Open AccessGenomic Organization and Molecular Characterization of Clostridium difficile Bacteriophage ΦCD119
Author(s) -
Gunturu Revathi,
Joe A. Fralick,
Rial D. Rolfe
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.652
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1067-8832
pISSN - 0021-9193
DOI - 10.1128/jb.188.7.2568-2577.2006
Subject(s) - biology , genetics , lysogenic cycle , genome , bacteriophage , temperateness , gene , integrase , escherichia coli
In this study, we have isolated a temperate phage (ΦCD119) from a pathogenicClostridium difficile strain and sequenced and annotated its genome. This virus has an icosahedral capsid and a contractile tail covered by a sheath and contains a double-stranded DNA genome. It belongs to theMyoviridae family of the tailed phages and the orderCaudovirales . The genome was circularly permuted, with no physical ends detected by sequencing or restriction enzyme digestion analysis, and lacked a cos site. The DNA sequence of this phage consists of 53,325 bp, which carries 79 putative open reading frames (ORFs). A function could be assigned to 23 putative gene products, based upon bioinformatic analyses. The ΦCD119 genome is organized in a modular format, which includes modules for lysogeny, DNA replication, DNA packaging, structural proteins, and host cell lysis. The ΦCD119 attachment siteattP lies in a noncoding region close to the putative integrase (int ) gene. We have identified the phage integration site on theC. difficile chromosome (attB ) located in a noncoding region just upstream of genegltP , which encodes a carrier protein for glutamate and aspartate. This genetic analysis represents the first complete DNA sequence and annotation of aC. difficile phage.