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Journal of Bacteriology, September 2008, p. 5753-5765, Vol. 190, No. 17
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00461-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Terminally Redundant, Nonpermuted Genome of Listeria Bacteriophage A511: a Model for the SPO1-Like Myoviruses of Gram-Positive Bacteria{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Jochen Klumpp,1 Julia Dorscht,2 Rudi Lurz,3 Regula Bielmann,1 Matthias Wieland,1,2 Markus Zimmer,1 Richard Calendar,4 and Martin J. Loessner1*

Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland,1 Abteilung Mikrobiologie, Zentralinstitut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelforschung, Technische Universität München, 85350 Freising, Germany,2 Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, 14195 Berlin, Germany,3 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-32024

Received 4 April 2008/ Accepted 9 June 2008

Only little information on a particular class of myoviruses, the SPO1-like bacteriophages infecting low-G+C-content, gram-positive host bacteria (Firmicutes), is available. We present the genome analysis and molecular characterization of the large, virulent, broad-host-range Listeria phage A511. A511 contains a unit (informational) genome of 134,494 bp, encompassing 190 putative open reading frames (ORFs) and 16 tRNA genes, organized in a modular fashion common among the Caudovirales. Electron microscopy, enzymatic fragmentation analyses, and sequencing revealed that the A511 DNA molecule contains linear terminal repeats of a total of 3,125 bp, encompassing nine small putative ORFs. This particular genome structure explains why A511 is unable to perform general transduction. A511 features significant sequence homologies to Listeria phage P100 and other morphologically related phages infecting Firmicutes such as Staphylococcus phage K and Lactobacillus phage LP65. Equivalent but more-extensive terminal repeats also exist in phages P100 (~6 kb) and K (~20 kb). High-resolution electron microscopy revealed, for the first time, the presence of long tail fibers organized in a sixfold symmetry in these viruses. Mass spectrometry-based peptide fingerprinting permitted assignment of individual proteins to A511 structural components. On the basis of the data available for A511 and relatives, we propose that SPO1-like myoviruses are characterized by (i) their infection of gram-positive, low-G+C-content bacteria; (ii) a wide host range within the host bacterial genus and a strictly virulent lifestyle; (iii) similar morphology, sequence relatedness, and collinearity of the phage genome organization; and (iv) large double-stranded DNA genomes featuring nonpermuted terminal repeats of various sizes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 7, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Phone: 41 44 632 3335. Fax: 41 44 632 1266. E-mail: martin.loessner{at}ethz.ch

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 20 June 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, September 2008, p. 5753-5765, Vol. 190, No. 17
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00461-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Guenther, S., Huwyler, D., Richard, S., Loessner, M. J. (2009). Virulent Bacteriophage for Efficient Biocontrol of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 93-100 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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