title: Function, expression, specificity, diversity and incompatibility of actinobacteriophage parABS systems.
abstract: More than 180 individual phages infecting hosts in the phylum Actinobacteria have been sequenced and grouped into Cluster A because of their similar overall nucleotide sequences and genome architectures. These Cluster A phages are either temperate or derivatives of temperate parents, and most have an integration cassette near the centre of the genome containing an integrase gene and attP. However, about 20% of the phages lack an integration cassette, which is replaced by a 1.4 kbp segment with predicted partitioning functions, including plasmid-like parA and parB genes. Phage RedRock forms stable lysogens in Mycobacterium smegmatis in which the prophage replicates at 2.4 copies/chromosome and the partitioning system confers prophage maintenance. The parAB genes are expressed upon RedRock infection of M. smegmatis, but are downregulated once lysogeny is established by binding of RedRock ParB to parS-L, one of two centromere-like sites flanking the parAB genes. The RedRock parS-L and parS-R sites are composed of eight directly repeated copies of an 8 bp motif that is recognized by ParB. The actinobacteriophage parABS cassettes span considerable sequence diversity and specificity, providing a suite of tools for use in mycobacterial genetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Rebekah M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Dedrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Travis N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Mavrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Wei L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cervantes Reyes
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Olm
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Rachael E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jacobs-Sera
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Graham F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Hatfull
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000821:virology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002503:Centromere / Q000378:metabolism; D020090:Chromosome Segregation / Q000235:genetics; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D008242:Lysogeny; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins