Feng Chen

Cyanophages that infect coastal and oceanic Synechococcus have been studied extensively. However, no cyanophages infecting estuarine Synechococcus have been reported. In this study, seven cyanophages (three podoviruses, three siphoviruses and one myovirus) isolated from four estuarine Synechococcus strains were characterized in terms of their morphology, host range, growth and genetic features. All the podoviruses and siphoviruses were highly host specific. For the first time, the photosynthesis gene (psbA) was found in two podoviruses infecting estuarine Synechococcus. However, the psbA gene was not detected in the three siphoviruses. The psbA sequences from the two Synechococcus podoviruses clustered with some environmental psbA sequences, forming a unique cluster distantly related to previous known psbA clusters. Our results suggest that the psbA among Synechococcus podoviruses may evolve independently from the psbA of Synechococcus myoviruses. All three estuarine Synechococcus podoviruses contained the DNA polymerase (pol) gene, and clustered with other podoviruses that infect oceanic Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, suggesting that the DNA pol is conserved among marine picocyanobacterial podoviruses. Prevalence of host-specific cyanophages in the estuary suggests that Synechococcus and their phages in the estuarine ecosystem may develop a host-phage relationship different from what have been found in the open ocean.

Two bacteriophages, DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1, which infect marine roseobacters Silicibacter pomeroyi DSS-3 and Sulfitobacter sp. EE-36, respectively, were isolated from Baltimore Inner Harbor water. These two roseophages resemble bacteriophage N4, a large, short-tailed phage infecting Escherichia coli K12, in terms of their morphology and genomic structure. The full genome sequences of DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1 reveal that their genome sizes are 74.6 and 73.3 kb, respectively, and they both contain a highly conserved N4-like DNA replication and transcription system. Both roseophages contain a large virion-encapsidated RNA polymerase gene (> 10 kb), which was first discovered in N4. DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1 also possess several genes (i.e. ribonucleotide reductase and thioredoxin) that are most similar to the genes in roseobacters. Overall, the two roseophages are highly closely related, and share 80–94% nucleotide sequence identity over 85% of their ORFs. This is the first report of N4-like phages infecting marine bacteria and the second report of N4-like phage since the discovery of phage N4 40 years ago. The finding of these two N4-like roseophages will allow us to further explore the specific phage–host interaction and evolution for this unique group of bacteriophages.

The genome of cyanophage P60, a lytic virus which infects marine Synechococcus WH7803, was completely sequenced. The P60 genome contained 47,872 bp with 80 potential open reading frames that were mostly similar to the genes found in lytic phages like T7, phi-YeO3-12, and SIO1. The DNA replication system, consisting of primase-helicase and DNA polymerase, appeared to be more conserved in podoviruses than in siphoviruses and myoviruses, suggesting that DNA replication genes could be the critical elements for lytic phages. Strikingly high sequence similarities in the regions coding for nucleotide metabolism were found between cyanophage P60 and marine unicellular cyanobacteria.

... by Kan, Jinjun, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK, 2006, 251 pages ... spatial variations of Chesapeake Bay metaproteomes were observed and the metaproteomic patterns correlated with ... We proved for the first time that metaproteomics could be applied to a ...

... found to be conserved among cyanomyoviruses for marine picocyanobacteria. Synechococcus abundance often exceeded 10 6 cells ml -1 in summer, and sometimes contributed more than 50% of total phytoplankton biomass and primary production in the Chesapeake Bay. ...