title: Conserved termini and adjacent variable region of Twortlikevirus Staphylococcus phages.
abstract: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an increasing cause of serious infection, both in the community and hospital settings. Despite sophisticated strategies and efforts, the antibiotic options for treating MRSA infection are narrowing because of the limited number of newly developed antimicrobials. Here, four newly-isolated MRSA-virulent phages, IME-SA1, IMESA2, IME-SA118 and IME-SA119, were sequenced and analyzed. Their genome termini were identified using our previously proposed "termini analysis theory". We provide evidence that remarkable conserved terminus sequences are found in IME-SA1/2/118/119, and, moreover, are widespread throughout Twortlikevirus Staphylococcus phage G1 and K species. Results also suggested that each phage of the two species has conserved 5' terminus while the 3' terminus is variable. More importantly, a variable region with a specific pattern was found to be present near the conserved terminus of Twortlikevirus S. phage G1 species. The clone with the longest variable region had variable terminus lengths in successive generations, while the clones with the shortest variable region and with the average length variable region maintained the same terminal length as themselves during successive generations. IME-SA1 bacterial infection experiments showed that the variation is not derived from adaptation of the phage to different host strains. This is the first study of the conserved terminus and variable region of Twortlikevirus S. phages.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xianglilan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.|The State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics and School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410078, China.
authors.forename: Huaixing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Yuyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Shasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Guangqian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.|The 307th Hospital of Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Yannan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Beijing Aviation Meterological and Chemical Defense Research Institute, Beijing, 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, 100071, China. tong.yigang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yigang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tong
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016679:Genome, Viral; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000821:virology*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: Twortlikevirus Staphylococcus phage; conserved termini; variable region