Frontiers in Microbiology (Feb 2023)

Isolation and characterization of a novel Tenacibaculum species and a corresponding bacteriophage from a Mediterranean fish hatchery: Description of Tenacibaculum larymnensis sp. nov. and Tenacibaculum phage Larrie

  • Maria Ioanna Tsertou,
  • Adriana Triga,
  • Adriana Triga,
  • Stavros Droubogiannis,
  • Stavros Droubogiannis,
  • Constantina Kokkari,
  • Grammatiki Anasi,
  • Pantelis Katharios

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1078669
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

Read online

Tenacibaculum larymnensis sp. nov., a novel species of the Tenacibaculum genus was isolated from a commercial fish hatchery in Greece. The novel species is phylogenetically close to T. discolor and was biochemically and genetically characterized. The genome of T. larymnensis has 3.66 Mbps length, 31.83% GC content and the genomic analysis demonstrated that it harbors a wide enzymatic repertoire suggestive of increased degrading capacity but also several virulence factors including hemolysins, secretion systems, transporters, siderophores, pili and extracellular proteins. Using the novel strain, a virulent bacteriophage designated as Tenacibaculum phage Larrie was isolated and characterized. Larrie is a novel Siphovirus with relatively large genome, 77.5 kbps with 111 ORFs, a GC content of 33.7% and an exclusively lytic lifestyle. The new phage-host system can serve as an efficient model to study microbial interactions in the aquatic environment which contribute to the nutrient cycling.

Keywords