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Genomic Diversity of Type B3 Bacteriophages of Caulobacter crescentus

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Abstract

The genomes of the type B3 bacteriophages that infect Caulobacter crescentus are among the largest phage genomes thus far deposited into GenBank with sizes over 200 kb. In this study, we introduce six new bacteriophage genomes which were obtained from phage collected from various water systems in the southeastern United States and from tropical locations across the globe. A comparative analysis of the 12 available genomes revealed a “core genome” which accounts for roughly 1/3 of these bacteriophage genomes and is predominately localized to the head, tail, and lysis gene regions. Despite being isolated from geographically distinct locations, the genomes of these bacteriophages are highly conserved in both genome sequence and gene order. We also identified the insertions, deletions, translocations, and horizontal gene transfer events which are responsible for the genomic diversity of this group of bacteriophages and demonstrated that these changes are not consistent with the idea that modular reassortment of genomes occurs in this group of bacteriophages.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation Grant EF-0826792 and NIH Grants R25GM066526 and R25GM076277 to BE.

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Author notes

  1. Kurt T. Ash

    Present address: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA

  2. Kristina M. Drake

    Present address: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

  3. Whitney S. Gibbs

    Present address: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Kurt T. Ash, Kristina M. Drake, Whitney S. Gibbs & Bert Ely

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  1. Kurt T. Ash
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  2. Kristina M. Drake
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  3. Whitney S. Gibbs
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Correspondence to Bert Ely.

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Ash, K.T., Drake, K.M., Gibbs, W.S. et al. Genomic Diversity of Type B3 Bacteriophages of Caulobacter crescentus . Curr Microbiol 74, 779–786 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-017-1248-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-017-1248-4

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