What Does the Talking?: Quorum Sensing Signalling Genes Discovered in a Bacteriophage Genome
The transfer of novel genetic material into the genomes of bacterial viruses (phages) has been widely documented in several host-phage systems. Bacterial genes are incorporated into the phage genome and, if retained, subsequently evolve within them. The expression of these phage genes can subvert or...
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| Vydané v: | PloS one Ročník 9; číslo 1; s. e85131 |
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| Hlavní autori: | , , |
| Médium: | Journal Article |
| Jazyk: | English |
| Vydavateľské údaje: |
United States
Public Library of Science
24.01.2014
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| Predmet: | |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203, 1932-6203 |
| On-line prístup: | Získať plný text |
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| Shrnutí: | The transfer of novel genetic material into the genomes of bacterial viruses (phages) has been widely documented in several host-phage systems. Bacterial genes are incorporated into the phage genome and, if retained, subsequently evolve within them. The expression of these phage genes can subvert or bolster bacterial processes, including altering bacterial pathogenicity. The phage phiCDHM1 infects Clostridium difficile, a pathogenic bacterium that causes nosocomial infections and is associated with antibiotic treatment. Genome sequencing and annotation of phiCDHM1 shows that despite being closely related to other C. difficile myoviruses, it has several genes that have not been previously reported in any phage genomes. Notably, these include three homologs of bacterial genes from the accessory gene regulator (agr) quorum sensing (QS) system. These are; a pre-peptide (AgrD) of an autoinducing peptide (AIP), an enzyme which processes the pre-peptide (AgrB) and a histidine kinase (AgrC) that detects the AIP to activate a response regulator. Phylogenetic analysis of the phage and C. difficile agr genes revealed that there are three types of agr loci in this species. We propose that the phage genes belonging to a third type, agr3, and have been horizontally transferred from the host. AgrB and AgrC are transcribed during the infection of two different strains. In addition, the phage agrC appears not to be confined to the phiCDHM1 genome as it was detected in genetically distinct C. difficile strains. The discovery of QS gene homologs in a phage genome presents a novel way in which phages could influence their bacterial hosts, or neighbouring bacterial populations. This is the first time that these QS genes have been reported in a phage genome and their distribution both in C. difficile and phage genomes suggests that the agr3 locus undergoes horizontal gene transfer within this species. |
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| Bibliografia: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 Competing Interests: Phage CDHM1 is included as part of a patent application no 1215184.1. The full patent name is Therapeutic phage No. PCT/GB2013/052245. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Conceived and designed the experiments: KRH MRJC AMK. Performed the experiments: KRH AMK. Analyzed the data: KRH MRJC AMK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KRH MRJC AMK. Wrote the paper: KRH MRJC AMK. |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0085131 |