title: Evidence for horizontal gene transfer betweenChlamydophila pneumoniaeand Chlamydia phage.
abstract: Chlamydia-infecting bacteriophages, members of theMicroviridaefamily, specifically theGokushovirinaesubfamily, are small (4.5-5 kb) single-stranded circles with 8-10 open-reading frames similar toE. coliphage ϕX174. Using sequence information found in GenBank, we examined related genes inChlamydophila pneumoniaeand Chlamydia-infecting bacteriophages. The 5 completely sequencedC. pneumoniaestrains contain a gene orthologous to a phage gene annotated as the putative replication initiation protein (PRIP, also called VP4), which is not found in any other members of theChlamydiaceaefamily sequenced to date. TheC. pneumoniaestrain infecting koalas, LPCoLN, in addition contains another region orthologous to phage sequences derived from the minor capsid protein gene, VP3. Phylogenetically, the phage PRIP sequences are more diverse than the bacterial PRIP sequences; nevertheless, the bacterial sequences and the phage sequences each cluster together in their own clade. Finally, we found evidence for anotherMicroviridaephage-related gene, the major capsid protein gene, VP1 in a number of other bacterial species and 2 eukaryotes, the woodland strawberry and a nematode. Thus, we find considerable evidence for DNA sequences related to genes found in bacteriophages of theMicroviridaefamily not only in a variety of prokaryotic but also eukaryotic species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; Georgetown University ; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Anne G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Rosenwald
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; Georgetown University ; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; Georgetown University ; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toth
authors.affiliation: J. Craig Venter Institute ; Rockville, MD USA.
authors.forename: Ramana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madupu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; Georgetown University ; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kyrillos
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; Georgetown University ; Washington, DC USA.
authors.forename: Gaurav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arora
keywords: gokushovirinae; horizontal gene transfer; microviridae; putative replication initiation protein (PRIP)