title: Isolation and characterization of marine psychrophilic phage-host systems from Arctic sea ice.
abstract: Phage-host systems from extreme cold environments have rarely been surveyed. This study is concerned with the isolation and characterization of three different phage-host systems from Arctic sea ice and melt pond samples collected north-west of Svalbard (Arctic). On the basis of 16S rDNA sequences, the three bacterial phage hosts exhibited the greatest similarity to the species Shewanella frigidimarina (96.0%), Flavobacterium hibernum (94.0%), and Colwellia psychrerythraea (98.4%), respectively. The host bacteria are psychrophilic with good growth at 0 degrees C, resulting in a rapid formation of visible colonies at this temperature. The phages showed an even more pronounced adaptation to cold temperatures than the bacteria, with growth maxima below 14 degrees C and good plaque formation at 0 degrees C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examinations revealed that the bacteriophages belonged to the tailed, double-stranded DNA phage families Siphoviridae and Myoviridae. All three phages were host-specific.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Marine Biotechnologie, Rathenau Strasse 49a, 17489, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borriss
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Helmke
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanschke
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schweder
mesh_terms: D034241:Alteromonadaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000821:virology; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005417:Flavobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000821:virology; D008386:Marine Biology; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods; D020592:Shewanella / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000821:virology; D014871:Water Microbiology