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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Development of phoH as a novel signature gene for assessing marine phage diversity
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume 77, No. 21, Year 2011
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Description
Phages play a key role in the marine environment by regulating the transfer of energy between trophic levels and influencing global carbon and nutrient cycles. The diversity of marine phage communities remains difficult to characterize because of the lack of a signature gene common to all phages. Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of host-derived auxiliary metabolic genes in phage genomes, such as those belonging to the Pho regulon, which regulates phosphate uptake and metabolism under low-phosphate conditions. Among the completely sequenced phage genomes in GenBank, this study identified Pho regulon genes in nearly 40% of the marine phage genomes, while only 4% of nonmarine phage genomes contained these genes. While several Pho regulon genes were identified, phoH was the most prevalent, appearing in 42 out of 602 completely sequenced phage genomes. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that phage phoH sequences formed a cluster distinct from those of their bacterial hosts. PCR primers designed to amplify a region of the phoH gene were used to determine the diversity of phage phoH sequences throughout a depth profile in the Sargasso Sea and at six locations worldwide. phoH was present at all sites examined, and a high diversity of phoH sequences was recovered. Most phoH sequences belonged to clusters without any cultured representatives. Each depth and geographic location had a distinct phoH composition, although most phoH clusters were recovered from multiple sites. Overall, phoH is an effective signature gene for examining phage diversity in the marine environment. © 2011, American Society for Microbiology.
Authors & Co-Authors
Goldsmith, Dawn B.
United States, St Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Crosti, Giuseppe
United States, St Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Dwivedi, Bhakti
United States, St Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
McDaniel, Lauren D.
United States, St Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Varsani, Arvind
New Zealand, Christchurch
University of Canterbury
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Suttle, Curtis A.
Canada, Vancouver
The University of British Columbia
Weinbauer, Markus G.
France, Villefranche-sur-mer
Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche Sur Mer
Sandaa, Ruth Anne
Norway, Bergen
Universitetet I Bergen
Breitbart, Mya
United States, St Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Statistics
Citations: 90
Authors: 9
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1128/AEM.05531-11
e-ISSN:
10985336
Research Areas
Environmental
Genetics And Genomics
Noncommunicable Diseases