Genomics of Staphylococcal Twort-like Phages - Potential Therapeutics of the Post-Antibiotic Era

Łobocka, Małgorzata; Hejnowicz, Monika S.; Dąbrowski, Kamil; Gozdek, Agnieszka; Kosakowski, Jarosław; Witkowska, Magdalena; Ulatowska, Magdalena; Weber‐Dąbrowska, Beata; Kwiatek, Magdalena; Parasion, Sylwia; Gawor, Jan; Kosowska, Helena; Głowacka, Aleksandra

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-394438-2.00005-0

Cited by 101 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 244 publications

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“…In the case of Romulus and Remus, six protein-encoding genes were found to be interrupted by six coding and two noncoding introns, an insertion sequence, and a hedghoge/intein domain. The distribution of the coding introns, however, is dissimilar from those observed before in S. aureus phages (7,8,11,13).…”

Section: Genome Analysis (I) General Featurescontrasting

confidence: 82%

“…The presence of mobile elements in essential genes of Romulus and Remus is a characteristic feature among most known staphylococcal myoviruses (7,8,11,13). In the case of Romulus and Remus, six protein-encoding genes were found to be interrupted by six coding and two noncoding introns, an insertion sequence, and a hedghoge/intein domain.…”

Section: Genome Analysis (I) General Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, HHpred analysis revealed relatedness of these homing endonucleases with Bacillus thuringiensis phage 03058-36 I-Bth0305I, the first and until now only member of the EDxHD family of homing endonucleases discovered in a phage genome (52) ( Table 2). Furthermore, I-RoReI and I-RoReII share homology with the homing endonucleases residing within the group I intron in the terminase large-subunit genes of Staphylococcus phages MSA6 (I-MsaI) and Twort (8,13). An insertion sequence comprising a transposase gene (ORF14) and an additional gene (ORF13) was detected between ORF12 and ORF15, both homologous to parts of the gene encoding the portal protein in K, G1, ISP, and Twort (Fig.…”

Section: Genome Analysis (I) General Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, two introns were predicted within the large terminase gene as well as an intein-encoding region in the helicase gene (8). Phages Sb-1, ISP, Staph1N, Fi200W, P4W, 676Z, A3R, MSA6, and A5-W display an intron distribution similar to those of K and G1 (13), whereas phage GH15 lacks all previously described introns (15). Although splicing in phages was first believed to be a regulatory mechanism of DNA metabolism (22,23), the discovery of introns in late genes (8,21,24) challenges the relevance of this hypothesis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This genus includes staphylococcal phages K (7), G1, Twort (8), Sb-1 (9), ISP (10,11), A5-W, Staph1N, Fi200W, P4W, 676Z, A3R, MSA6 (12,13), SA11 (14), and GH15 (15). Their double-stranded genomes contain 127,188 bp to 140,194 bp, display a GϩC content of 30.04 to 30.60%, and contain 183 to 217 open reading frames (ORFs).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Romulus and Remus, Two Phage Isolates Representing a Distinct Clade within the Twortlikevirus Genus, Display Suitable Properties for Phage Therapy Applications

Vandersteegen

Kropinski

Nash

et al. 2013

J Virol

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eThe renewed interest in controlling Staphylococcus aureus infections using their natural enemies, bacteriophages, has led to the isolation of a limited number of virulent phages so far. These phages are all members of the Twortlikevirus, displaying little variance. We present two novel closely related (95.9% DNA homology) lytic myoviruses, Romulus and Remus, with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes of 131,333 bp and 134,643 bp, respectively. Despite their relatedness to Staphylococcus phages K, G1, ISP, and Twort and Listeria phages A511 and P100, Romulus and Remus can be proposed as isolates of a new species within the Twortlikevirus genus. A distinguishing feature for these phage genomes is the unique distribution of group I introns compared to that in other staphylococcal myoviruses. In addition, a hedgehog/intein domain was found within their DNA polymerase genes, and an insertion sequence-encoded transposase exhibits splicing behavior and produces a functional portal protein. From a phage therapy application perspective, Romulus and Remus infected approximately 70% of the tested S. aureus isolates and displayed promising lytic activity against these isolates. Furthermore, both phages showed a rapid initial adsorption and demonstrated biofilm-degrading capacity in a proof-of-concept experiment.

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Section: Genome Analysis (I) General Featurescontrasting

confidence: 82%