title: A Clostridioides difficile bacteriophage genome encodes functional binary toxin-associated genes.
abstract: Pathogenic clostridia typically produce toxins as virulence factors which cause severe diseases in both humans and animals. Whereas many clostridia like e.g., Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium botulinum or Clostridium tetani were shown to contain toxin-encoding plasmids, only toxin genes located on the chromosome were detected in Clostridioides difficile so far. In this study, we determined, annotated, and analyzed the complete genome of the bacteriophage phiSemix9P1 using single-molecule real-time sequencing technology (SMRT). To our knowledge, this represents the first C. difficile-associated bacteriophage genome that carries a complete functional binary toxin locus in its genome.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany; North German Center of Microbial Genomics, Germany. Electronic address: thomas.riedel@dsmz.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Riedel
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wittmann
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany; North German Center of Microbial Genomics, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Boyke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bunk
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schober
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany; North German Center of Microbial Genomics, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Cathrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spröer
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany; North German Center of Microbial Genomics, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gronow
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstraße 7B, Braunschweig, Germany; North German Center of Microbial Genomics, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Overmann
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping / Q000379:methods; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins
keywords: Bacteriophage; Binary toxin; Clostridioides difficile; Clostridium; Clostridium difficile; Firmicutes; Genome evolution