AUTHOR=Hammerl Jens A. , Volkmar Sven , Jacob Daniela , Klein Iris , Jäckel Claudia , Hertwig Stefan 

TITLE=The Burkholderia thailandensis Phages ΦE058 and ΦE067 Represent Distinct Prototypes of a New Subgroup of Temperate Burkholderia Myoviruses

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01120

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.01120

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Burkholderia mallei</italic> and <italic>B. pseudomallei</italic> are highly pathogenic species which are closely related, but diverse regarding their prophage content. While temperate phages have not yet been isolated from <italic>B. mallei</italic>, several phages of <italic>B. pseudomallei</italic>, and its non-pathogenic relative <italic>B. thailandensis</italic> have been described. In this study we isolated two phages from <italic>B. pseudomallei</italic> and three phages from <italic>B. thailandensis</italic> and determined their morphology, host range, and relationship. All five phages belong to the family <italic>Myoviridae</italic>, but some of them revealed different host specificities. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments indicated that the phages belong to two groups. One group, composed of ΦE058 (44,121 bp) and ΦE067 (43,649 bp), represents a new subgroup of <italic>Burkholderia</italic> myoviruses that is not related to known phages. The genomes of ΦE058 and ΦE067 are similar but also show some striking differences. Repressor proteins differ clearly allowing the phages to form plaques on hosts containing the respective other phage. The tail fiber proteins exhibited some minor deviations in the C-terminal region, which may account for the ability of ΦE058, but not ΦE067, to lyse <italic>B. mallei</italic>, <italic>B. pseudomallei</italic>, and <italic>B. thailandensis.</italic> In addition, the integrases and attachment sites of the phages are not related. While ΦE058 integrates into the <italic>Burkholderia</italic> chromosome within an intergenic region, the ΦE067 prophage resides in the <italic>selC</italic> tRNA gene for selenocysteine. Experiments on the structure of phage DNA isolated from particles suggest that the ΦE058 and ΦE067 genomes have a circular conformation.</p>