title: Genomic characterization of a temperate phage of the psychrotolerant deep-sea bacterium Aurantimonas sp.
abstract: A temperate phage (termed AmM-1) was identified from the psychrotolerant Rhizobiales bacterium Aurantimonas sp. C5-1, which was isolated from bathypelagic water (water depth = 1,500 m) in the northwest Pacific. The AmM-1 genome is 47,800 bp in length and contains 67 coding sequences. Although phage AmM-1 morphologically belongs to the family Myoviridae, its genomic structure, particularly modular genome organization, is similar to that of lambda-type phages of Siphoviridae. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses of the structural core genes also revealed that AmM-1 has a mosaic genomic structure that includes a lambda-like head (Siphoviridae) and P2-like tail (Myoviridae). The sequences of the structural core genes of AmM-1 are distinct from those of previously characterized phage groups but similar to those of recently identified one prophage element and one phage of marine Rhizobiales bacteria: a potential prophage element in the marine psychrotolerant Aureimonas ureilytica DSM 18598 genome and the temperate phage RR-1A infecting Rhizobium radiobacter P007 isolated from deep subseafloor sediment. The mosaic genome structure of AmM-1 suggests the occurrence of genetic exchange between distinct temperate phages in marine Rhizobiales populations.
authors.affiliation: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 237-0061, Japan, mityoshi@jamstec.go.jp.
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida-Takashima
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nunoura
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takai
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D023281:Genomics; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010802:Phylogeny; D039002:Prophages; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000821:virology*; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D013696:Temperature; D014871:Water Microbiology