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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.00106-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Genome Sequence and Analysis of a Propionibacterium acnes Bacteriophage

Skin Research Centre, Institute of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Garstang Building, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; and Sarum Biosciences Ltd., 8 Centre One, Lysander Way, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6BU, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: M.D.Farrar{at}leeds.ac.uk.

	Abstract

Cutaneous propionibacteria are important commensals of human skin and are implicated in a wide range of opportunistic infections. Propionibacterium acnes is also associated with inflammatory acne vulgaris. Bacteriophage PA6 is the first phage of P. acnes to be sequenced and demonstrates a high degree of similarity to many mycobacteriophages both morphologically and genetically. PA6 possesses an icosahedreal head and long non-contractile tail characteristic of the Siphoviridae. The overall genome organisation of PA6 resembled that of the temperate mycobacteriophages although its genome size was much smaller at 29,739 bp (48 predicted genes) compared to, for example, 50,550 bp (86 predicted genes) for Bxb1. PA6 infected only P. acnes and produced clear plaques with turbid centres but lacked any obvious genes for lysogeny. The host range of PA6 was restricted to P. acnes but the phage was able to infect and lyse all P. acnes isolates tested. Sequencing of the PA6 genome makes an important contribution to the study of phage evolution and propionibacterial genetics.