<i>Pantoea</i> <i>agglomerans</i>-Infecting Bacteriophage vB_PagS_AAS21: A Cold-Adapted Virus Representing a Novel Genus within the Family <i>Siphoviridae</i>
Monika Šimoliūnienė,
Lidija Truncaitė,
Emilija Petrauskaitė,
Aurelija Zajančkauskaitė,
Rolandas Meškys,
Martynas Skapas,
Algirdas Kaupinis,
Mindaugas Valius,
Eugenijus Šimoliūnas
Affiliations
Monika Šimoliūnienė
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Lidija Truncaitė
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Emilija Petrauskaitė
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Aurelija Zajančkauskaitė
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Rolandas Meškys
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Martynas Skapas
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Saulėtekio av. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Algirdas Kaupinis
Proteomics Centre, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Mindaugas Valius
Proteomics Centre, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Eugenijus Šimoliūnas
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
A novel cold-adapted siphovirus, vB_PagS_AAS21 (AAS21), was isolated in Lithuania using Pantoea agglomerans as the host for phage propagation. AAS21 has an isometric head (~85 nm in diameter) and a non-contractile flexible tail (~174 × 10 nm). With a genome size of 116,649 bp, bacteriophage AAS21 is the largest Pantoea-infecting siphovirus sequenced to date. The genome of AAS21 has a G+C content of 39.0% and contains 213 putative protein-encoding genes and 29 genes for tRNAs. A comparative sequence analysis revealed that 89 AAS21 open reading frames (ORFs) code for unique proteins that have no reliable identity to database entries. In total, 63 AAS21 ORFs were functionally annotated, including those coding for the proteins responsible for virion morphogenesis, phage-host interactions, and DNA metabolism. Proteomic analysis led to the experimental identification of 19 virion proteins, including 11 that were predicted by bioinformatics approaches. Based on comparative phylogenetic analysis, AAS21 cannot be assigned to any genus currently recognized by ICTV and may represents a new branch of viruses within the family Siphoviridae.
