Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-9-2013
Publication Source
PLOS One
Volume Number
8
Issue Number
7
Publisher
Public Library Science
ISSN
1932-6203
Abstract
Bacteriophages isolated on Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 represent many distinct genomes sharing little or no DNA sequence similarity. The genomes are architecturally mosaic and are replete with genes of unknown function. A new group of genomes sharing substantial nucleotide sequences constitute Cluster J. The six mycobacteriophages forming Cluster J are morphologically members of the Siphoviridae, but have unusually long genomes ranging from 106.3 to 117 kbp. Reconstruction of the capsid by cryo-electron microscopy of mycobacteriophage BAKA reveals an icosahedral structure with a triangulation number of 13. All six phages are temperate and homoimmune, and prophage establishment involves integration into a tRNA-Leu gene not previously identified as a mycobacterial attB site for phage integration. The Cluster J genomes provide two examples of intron splicing within the virion structural genes, one in a major capsid subunit gene, and one in a tail gene. These genomes also contain numerous freestanding HNH homing endonuclease, and comparative analysis reveals how these could contribute to genome mosaicism. The unusual Cluster J genomes provide new insights into phage genome architecture, gene function, capsid structure, gene mobility, intron splicing, and evolution.
Keywords
Evolutionary Relationships, Homing Endonuclease, Insertion-sequence, Genome, Bacteriophages, Elements, Phages, Tool, Identification, Particles
Recommended Citation
Pope WH, Jacobs-Sera D, Best AA, Broussard GW, Connerly PL, et al. (2013) Cluster J Mycobacteriophages: Intron Splicing in Capsid and Tail Genes. PLoS ONE 8(7): e69273. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069273
Comments
The final published version can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069273
Copyright: © 2013 Pope et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM51975, and by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through its Professorship grant to GFH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.