Jorvik: a membrane-containing phage that will likely found a new family within Vinavirales

TY - JOUR

T1 - Jorvik: a membrane-containing phage that will likely found a new family within Vinavirales

AU - Bardy, Pavol

AU - MacDonald, Conor

AU - Pantucek, Roman

AU - Antson, Alfred Aksel

AU - Fogg, Paul Christopher Michael

N1 - © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2023/11/17

Y1 - 2023/11/17

N2 - Although membrane-containing dsDNA bacterial viruses are some of the most prevalent predators in aquatic environments, we know little about how they function due to their intractability in the laboratory. Here, we have identified and thoroughly characterized a new type of membrane-containing bacteriophage, Jorvik, that infects the freshwater mixotrophic model bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. Jorvik is extremely virulent, can persist in the host integrated into the RuBisCo operon and encodes two experimentally verified cell wall hydrolases. Jorvik-like prophages are abundant in the genomes of alpha-proteobacteria, are distantly related to known viruses of the class Tectiliviricetes, and we propose they should be classified as a new family. Crucially, we demonstrate how widely used phage manipulation methods should be adjusted to prevent loss of virus infectivity. Our thorough characterization of environmental phage Jorvik provides important experimental insights about phage diversity and interactions in microbial communities that are often unexplored in common metagenomic analyses.

AB - Although membrane-containing dsDNA bacterial viruses are some of the most prevalent predators in aquatic environments, we know little about how they function due to their intractability in the laboratory. Here, we have identified and thoroughly characterized a new type of membrane-containing bacteriophage, Jorvik, that infects the freshwater mixotrophic model bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. Jorvik is extremely virulent, can persist in the host integrated into the RuBisCo operon and encodes two experimentally verified cell wall hydrolases. Jorvik-like prophages are abundant in the genomes of alpha-proteobacteria, are distantly related to known viruses of the class Tectiliviricetes, and we propose they should be classified as a new family. Crucially, we demonstrate how widely used phage manipulation methods should be adjusted to prevent loss of virus infectivity. Our thorough characterization of environmental phage Jorvik provides important experimental insights about phage diversity and interactions in microbial communities that are often unexplored in common metagenomic analyses.

KW - Phage

KW - BACTERIA

KW - Rhodobacter

KW - Vinavirales

KW - Membrane

KW - ENDOLYSIN

KW - Lysogeny

KW - Lysis

KW - PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108104

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108104

M3 - Article

SN - 2589-0042

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

ER -