Defective site-specific integration elements are present in the genome of virulent bacteriophage LL-H of Lactobacillus delbrueckii.
The phage attachment site, attP, and the integrase-encoding gene, int, are sufficient to promote site-specific integration of the temperate phage mv4 genome into the chromosome of the Lactobacillus delbrueckii host (L. Dupont, B. Boizet-Bonhoure, M. Coddeville, F. Auvray, and P. Ritzenthaler, J. Bacteriol. 177:586--595, 1995). The mv4 genome region containing these elements was compared at the nucleotide and amino acid levels with that of the closely related virulent phage LL-H. Complex DNA rearrangements were identified; a truncated integrase gene and two sites homologous to the mv4 attP site were detected in the genome of the virulent phage LL-H. These observations suggest that the two phages derive from a common temperate ancestor.
Mikkonen
M
M
Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Finland. Merja.Mikkonen@csc.fi
Dupont
L
L
Alatossava
T
T
Ritzenthaler
P
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016679:Genome, Viral; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017421:Sequence Analysis