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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2005, p. 6742-6749, Vol. 187, No. 19
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.19.6742-6749.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of the Bacillus anthracis Phage Receptor

Toxines et Pathogénie Bactérienne (CNRS URA 2172), Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Received 20 April 2005/ Accepted 12 July 2005

Bacillus anthracis, a gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, is the etiological agent of anthrax. It belongs to the Bacillus cereus group, which also contains Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis. Most B. anthracis strains are sensitive to phage , but most B. cereus and B. thuringiensis strains are resistant to the lytic action of phage . Here, we report the identification of a protein involved in the bacterial receptor for the phage, which we term GamR (Gamma phage receptor). It is an LPXTG protein (BA3367, BAS3121) and is anchored by the sortase A. A B. anthracis sortase A mutant is not as sensitive as the parental strain nor as the sortase B and sortase C mutants, whereas the GamR mutant is resistant to the lytic action of the phage. Electron microscopy reveals the binding of the phage to the surface of the parental strain and its absence from the GamR mutant. Spontaneous B. anthracis mutants resistant to the phage harbor mutations in the gene encoding the GamR protein. A B. cereus strain that is sensitive to the phage possesses a protein similar (89% identity) to GamR. B. thuringiensis 97-27, a strain which, by sequence analysis, is predicted to harbor a GamR-like protein, is resistant to the phage but nevertheless displays phage binding.

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