title: Cloning and sequencing of major capsid protein (mcp) gene of a vibriophage, KVP20, possibly related to T-even coliphages.
abstract: A large, tailed, prolate-headed vibriophage designated KVP20 was isolated from seawater. KVP20 was morphologically very similar to the previously described vibriophage, KVP40 (Matsuzaki, S., Inoue, T., Tanaka, S., 1998. Virology, 242, 314-318). However, they showed entirely different host specificities and could easily be differentiated from each other by their patterns of DNA restriction fragments. The major capsid protein (mcp) gene of KVP20 encoding the precursor of major capsid protein (pro-Mcp) was cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino-acid (aa) sequence of KVP20 pro-Mcp was compared with the reported aa sequences of KVP40 pro-Mcp, as well as of the equivalent proteins (gp23s) of coliphages T4 and RB49. There was 96.7, 57.5, and 55.2% homology to the corresponding proteins of KVP40, T4, and RB49, respectively. These data strongly suggest that the two vibriophages are closely related to each other and that they are both distantly, but definitely, related to coliphages T4 and RB49.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Kochi Medical School, Oko, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8505, Japan. matuzaki@kochi-ms.ac.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001483:Base Sequence; D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013604:T-Phages / Q000235:genetics; D014736:Vibrio parahaemolyticus / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C064517:gp23 protein, Bacteriophage T4; C111738:major capsid protein, vibriophage KVP40