This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dorscht, J.
Right arrow Articles by Loessner, M. J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dorscht, J.
Right arrow Articles by Loessner, M. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, December 2009, p. 7206-7215, Vol. 191, No. 23
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01041-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparative Genome Analysis of Listeria Bacteriophages Reveals Extensive Mosaicism, Programmed Translational Frameshifting, and a Novel Prophage Insertion Site{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Julia Dorscht,1 Jochen Klumpp,3* Regula Bielmann,3 Mathias Schmelcher,3 Yannick Born,3 Markus Zimmer,3 Richard Calendar,2 and Martin J. Loessner3

Abteilung Mikrobiologie, Zentralinstitut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelforschung, Technische Universität München, 85350 Freising, Germany,1 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3202,2 Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland3

Received 7 August 2009/ Accepted 16 September 2009

The genomes of six Listeria bacteriophages were sequenced and analyzed. Phages A006, A500, B025, P35, and P40 are members of the Siphoviridae and contain double-stranded DNA genomes of between 35.6 kb and 42.7 kb. Phage B054 is a unique myovirus and features a 48.2-kb genome. Phage B025 features 3' overlapping single-stranded genome ends, whereas the other viruses contain collections of terminally redundant, circularly permuted DNA molecules. Phages P35 and P40 have a broad host range and lack lysogeny functions, correlating with their virulent lifestyle. Phages A500, A006, and B025 integrate into bacterial tRNA genes, whereas B054 targets the 3' end of translation elongation factor gene tsf. This is the first reported case of phage integration into such an evolutionarily conserved genetic element. Peptide fingerprinting of viral proteins revealed that both A118 and A500 utilize +1 and –1 programmed translational frameshifting for generating major capsid and tail shaft proteins with C termini of different lengths. In both cases, the unusual +1 frameshift at the 3' ends of the tsh coding sequences is induced by overlapping proline codons and cis-acting shifty stops. Although Listeria phage genomes feature a conserved organization, they also show extensive mosaicism within the genome building blocks. Of particular interest is B025, which harbors a collection of modules and sequences with relatedness not only to other Listeria phages but also to viruses infecting other members of the Firmicutes. In conclusion, our results yield insights into the composition and diversity of Listeria phages and provide new information on their function, genome adaptation, and evolution.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 7, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Phone: 41-44-632-5378. Fax: 41-44-632-1266. E-mail: jochen.klumpp{at}ilw.agrl.ethz.ch

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 25 September 2009.

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

Journal of Bacteriology, December 2009, p. 7206-7215, Vol. 191, No. 23
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01041-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»