title: Characterization and genomic analyses of two newly isolated Morganella phages define distant members among Tevenvirinae and Autographivirinae subfamilies.
abstract: Morganella morganii is a common but frequent neglected environmental opportunistic pathogen which can cause deadly nosocomial infections. The increased number of multidrug-resistant M. morganii isolates motivates the search for alternative and effective antibacterials. We have isolated two novel obligatorily lytic M. morganii bacteriophages (vB_MmoM_MP1, vB_MmoP_MP2) and characterized them with respect to specificity, morphology, genome organization and phylogenetic relationships. MP1's dsDNA genome consists of 163,095 bp and encodes 271 proteins, exhibiting low DNA (<40%) and protein (<70%) homology to other members of the Tevenvirinae. Its unique property is a >10 kb chromosomal inversion that encompass the baseplate assembly and head outer capsid synthesis genes when compared to other T-even bacteriophages. MP2 has a dsDNA molecule with 39,394 bp and encodes 55 proteins, presenting significant genomic (70%) and proteomic identity (86%) but only to Morganella bacteriophage MmP1. MP1 and MP2 are then novel members of Tevenvirinae and Autographivirinae, respectively, but differ significantly from other tailed bacteriophages of these subfamilies to warrant proposing new genera. Both bacteriophages together could propagate in 23 of 27 M. morganii clinical isolates of different origin and antibiotic resistance profiles, making them suitable for further studies on a development of bacteriophage cocktail for potential therapeutic applications.
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Graça
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Institute and Transnational University Limburg, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Noben
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21 box 2462, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hendrix
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21 box 2462, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lavigne
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.|Autonomous Department of Microbial Biology, Faculty of Agriculture and Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Łobocka
authors.affiliation: Departments of Food Science; Molecular and Cellular Biology; and, Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kropinski
authors.affiliation: CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Azeredo
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D023061:Gene Order; D016679:Genome, Viral; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D020596:Morganella / Q000821:virology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D000073336:Whole Genome Sequencing