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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2004, p . 5523-5528, Vol . 186, No . 16
Complete Genomic Nucleotide Sequence of the Temperate Bacteriophage Aa
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| ABSTRACT |
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The entire double-stranded DNA genome of the Actinobacillus
actinomycetemcomitans bacteriophage Aa
23
was sequenced . Linear DNA contained in the phage particles is
circularly permuted and terminally redundant . Therefore, the physical
map of the phage genome is circular . Its size is 43,033 bp with an
overall molar G+C content of 42.5 mol% . Sixty-six potential open
reading frames (ORFs) were identified, including an ORF resulting
from a translational frameshift . A putative function could be
assigned to 23 of them . Twenty-three other ORFs share homologies only
with hypothetical proteins present in several bacteria or bacteriophages,
and 20 ORFs seem to be specific for phage Aa
23 .
The organization of the phage genome and several genetic functions
share extensive similarities to that of the lambdoid phages . However,
Aa
23
encodes a DNA adenine methylase, and the DNA packaging strategy is
more closely related to the P22 system . The attachment sites of Aa
23
(attP) and several A . actinomycetemcomitans hosts (attB)
are 49 bp long .
| TEXT |
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Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans is a capnophilic, nonmotile
gram-negative bacterium which has been strongly implicated in
the etiology of several forms of periodontitis and may play a role in
extraoral infection . Several putative virulence factors, including a
leukotoxin, have been described previously (13) .
Lysogeny is widespread in A . actinomycetemcomitans . Lysogenic
A . actinomycetemcomitans isolates have been isolated from
periodontal pockets (11, 15,
30, 33) as well as from periodontally
healthy individuals (38) . The role of phages in
the etiology of periodontal diseases is not yet clear . Specifically,
members of the Aa
23
family of phages have been found in about 40% of the A .
actinomycetemcomitans isolates (11,
15, 25, 38), and Aa
23
was shown to transduce antibiotic resistance markers in vitro (39) .
In several bacterial species, such as Vibrio cholerae (17,
36) and Escherichia coli (24),
phage-encoded genes modulate virulence .
In previous work, it was shown that phages released from several
A . actinomycetemcomitans lysogens possess an isometric icosahedral
head of 65 nm, a contractile tail of 110 nm, and a baseplate
with up to four fibers and are genetically related (40) .
Phage particles contain approximately 45 kb of double-stranded linear
DNA that is circularly permuted and terminally redundant for
1.6 kb (37) . To further our understanding of the biology of
A . actinomycetemcomitans bacteriophages, we decided to sequence
the entire genome of the bacteriophage Aa
23
naturally carried by A . actinomycetemcomitans strain ZIB1023 (40) .
Four shotgun subclone libraries were prepared from purified phage
DNA . After sequencing of 289,652 bp, representing coverage of the Aa
23
genome 6.7 times, the final consensus sequence obtained with
phred/phrap/consed (GCG Wisconsin package; Genetics Computer Group,
Accelrys, Inc., Munich, Germany) was circular . For convenience, the
phage genome was linearized at the first nucleotide of the attP
core sequence (Fig . 1) . The sequence of the Aa
23
genome is composed of 43,033 bp . Virtual restriction maps of this
sequence are in good agreement with the restriction maps previously
obtained (40), suggesting correct assembly of the
sequences . The average G+C content of Aa
23
is 42.5 mol%, which is similar to the 42.7 mol% reported for the
A . actinomycetemcomitans genome (16) .
Sixty-six potential genes were predicted by analyses of the Aa
23
genome sequence with the heuristic approaches of version 2.4 of
GeneMark and version 2.0 of GeneMarkHMM (http://opal.biology.gatech.edu/GeneMark/heuristic_hmm2.cgi)
and confirmed with a modified version of the GeneMarkS program
specifically developed for viral genomes (21) . The genome of
Aa
23
is very condensed in terms of coding sequences, as 93.8% are covered
by open reading frames (ORFs) . No tRNA genes are present . Fifteen
stem-loop-like structures that may represent rho-independent
transcription termination signals have been identified (Fig.
1) . The 66 potential genes and the corresponding
protein sequences were compared, by using PSI-BLAST (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST),
to the GenBank and Swissprot databases . Characteristics of the
gene products and the significant homologies are listed in Table
1, and some are detailed below . Twenty ORFs may be specific
for Aa
23,
as no homology to other sequences was found . When analyzing putative
gene functions, three distinct regions can be delimited on the
genome: (i) integration and immunity, (ii) regulation, DNA
replication, DNA modification, and recombination, and (iii) lysis and
morphogenesis (Fig . 1) . The same genetic
organization has also been observed with other bacteriophages such as
lambda, P22, L, and LP-7 (5) .
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ORF1 may represent the integrase of phage Aa
23
(Table 1 and data not shown) . The InterProScan
software (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/InterProScan)
identified a domain conserved among phage integrases from amino
acid 145 to 324 (PFAM accession number
PF00589, e value of 1.7e–38) . Thus, this protein
may be a new member of the large family of Int/recombinases (23)
which catalyzes the site-specific integration and excision of the Aa
23
genome into and out of the host chromosome . As for phage lambda, the
putative Aa
23
integrase gene is located in a cluster of genes transcribed leftwards
on the genetic map, i.e., in the opposite orientation to the majority
of the phage genes (Fig . 1) . No gene coding for an
excisionase has been identified on the Aa
23
genome . This situation is also encountered in other phages, e.g.,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage D3 (18) . By semirandom
PCR, a 49-bp-long direct repeat was identified at the junctions
of prophage and bacterial DNA in strain ZIB1023 . Moreover, a single
copy of this repeat was found in the chromosome of the nonlysogenic
strains ZIB1001 and ZIB1015 and was also evident on the Aa
23
DNA sequence . When strain ZIB1001 was lysogenized to result in
ZIB1515, the prophage was flanked by direct copies of the repeat,
representing the att site (Fig . 2) . Analysis
also revealed a single copy of this repeat in the genome of A .
actinomycetemcomitans strain HK1651 and Haemophilus influenzae
Rd strain KW20 . In Aa
23,
the attP site is located 19 bp downstream from the putative
integrase gene . The attB homologous sequence is located
intergenically in the genomes of A . actinomycetemcomitans and
H . influenzae .
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ORF17 presents strong homologies to the repressor protein cI of the
lambda-like phage phi-80 (9) . Moreover, this protein
contains a helix-turn-helix motif from amino acid 12 to 66 (PFAM
accession number
PF013081, e value of 1.1e–08), which is a signature
of DNA binding proteins . The product of orf18 is a
68-amino-acid protein that shares significant homologies with
hypothetical proteins and weak homologies to the transcription
regulatory protein Cro of several bacteriophages (Table 1 and
data not shown) . Moreover, three regions of inverted repeats,
which may be analogues of the three sequences that compose the OR
operator of phage lambda, and two putative promoter sequences, which
may correspond to the promoters for repressor maintenance (PRM)
and to PR', are evident in the cI and cro intergenic
region of Aa
23
(data not shown) . Thus, Aa
23
is thought to use a lysogeny control system similar to that of phage
lambda (26) .
The deduced gene product of orf20 may be a antirepressor protein
similar to the one named AntB in E . coli phage N15, thought
to play a role in anti-immunity (28) . orf20 is
also closely related to gene HI1422 of the prophage
flu
(Table 1) . orf31 codes for a second putative
antirepressor belonging to the protein family of Ant that is
expressed in several phages and has been extensively characterized
for P22 (31) . The gene product of orf30
shares significant homology with a probable phage antitermination
protein Q (Table 1) . Finally, no homologies to other
regulatory proteins, such as cII, cIII, or antitermination protein N,
have been identified on the Aa
23
genome .
The DNA replication machinery of Aa
23
(including ORFs 22 and 23, encoding phage P22 DNA replication protein
and P22 DNA helicase homologues, respectively) seems to be closely
related to that of the lambdoid bacteriophages (35) .
ORFs 25 and 29 show homologies to the NinB and NinG proteins,
respectively, of several phages (Table 1) . In lambda, these
two genes are known as orf (ninB) and rap (ninG),
two recombination genes located in the ninR region . A recent
study showed that they participate in Red recombination, the primary
pathway operating when wild-type lambda grows lytically in Rec+
cells (34) . Additional experiments are needed to
determine whether Aa
23
induces a similar pathway when it grows lytically in A .
actinomycetemcomitans .
In contrast to lambda, Aa
23
codes for a DNA adenine methylase (ORF24) (Table 1) .
When orf24 was introduced into the Dam– E . coli strain
GM48, the genomic DNA was resistant to digestion by MboI but not by
Sau3AI, indicating that it was methylated on the adenine residue of
specific GATC sequences (data not shown) . Also, a host-encoded A .
actinomycetemcomitans DNA adenine methylase has been shown to be
active in vivo (8) . DNA methylases participate in
regulatory events of DNA replication, methyl-directed mismatch
repair, and transposition (20) . These enzymes are also
associated with bacterial DNA restriction-modification systems
that are responsible for the degradation of foreign DNA such as
conjugative plasmids, transposons, or bacteriophage DNA (29) .
It has been speculated that some bacteriophages express their
own DNA adenine methylase to overcome this bacterial protection . Some
DNA adenine methylases also play a role in regulating bacterial
virulence (12) . Nevertheless, the involvement of these
enzymes in the regulation of A . actinomycetemcomitans
virulence genes remains to be studied .
Aa
23
probably uses the same lysis strategy as described for many
double-stranded DNA phages (41) . The genetic organization
(SRRzRz1) of the putative lysis cassette, coded by orf34 to
orf37, is closely related to the one generally described for
lambdoid phages . None of the Aa
23
ORFs share homologies with a holin (S), but ORF34 may be a good
candidate because (i) it is topologically similar to the T4 holin (27;
data not shown), (ii) it is localized upstream of R, and (iii)
ORF34 may correspond to HI1416 of
flu
(14) . In fact, the RRzRz1 part of the Aa
23
putative lysis cassette is closely related to the H . influenzae
prophage
flu
(Table 1) . Interestingly, when scanned for protein
domains (http://hits.isb-sib.ch/cgi-bin/PFSCAN),
HI1416 was found to match the phage holin 3 family (4e–66),
which also includes the lambda holin S .
Nevertheless, no dual start motif (4) is present on the
sequence of orf34, suggesting that an antiholin function, if
present, may be coded by a separate gene . It would not be surprising
that ORF33 plays a role in lysis, as it also represents a putative
membrane protein sharing the same organization and charge distribution
as ORF34 (data not shown) . Additional experiments are required
to characterize the Aa
23
holin system . orf35 probably codes for the lysin (R), which
could represent a new lysozyme (glycosylase), as this protein shares
strong homologies with several bacteriophage lytic enzymes, putative
lysozymes, and chitinases (Table 1 and data not
shown) . Moreover, this ORF shares homologies with the glycoside
hydrolase 19 protein family (PFAM accession number
PF00182, 3.7e–2), which groups proteins with chitinase
activity . Some chitinases have been shown to display a lysozyme
activity (22) . Nevertheless, it is not clear whether ORF35 is
a true lysozyme or whether it is capable of transglycosylation,
as reported for the endolysin gpR of phage lambda (2).
orf36, which is located directly downstream of orf35,
presents weak homologies to the putative Rz lytic protein expressed
by the Shigella flexneri bacteriophage SfV (Table
1) . Moreover, orf36 overlaps with orf37,
the 93-amino-acid gene product of which harbors a prokaryotic
lipoprotein motif (Prosite accession number
PS00013) between residues 17 and 27 and may, therefore, represent
the Aa
23
homologue of the Rz1 prolipoprotein . In many phages of gram-negative
hosts, Rz and Rz1 play a role as auxiliary lytic proteins that are
thought to interact with the outer membrane or with its links to the
peptidoglycans (41) .
orf39 and orf40 are possibly coding for the small and large
subunits of the terminase enzyme, respectively (Table 1) .
This holoenzyme is required for packaging of the phage genomic DNA
into the empty capsid shells (6) . In Aa
23,
the phage DNA has been shown to be circularly permuted and terminally
redundant for approximately 1.6 kb (37), and it
may therefore be packaged by the headful mechanism . Thus, the Aa
23
terminase complex may cut concatemeric DNA molecules, resulting from
rolling circle replication, at a unique pac site to start the
first round of packaging . Taking into consideration the 1.6-kb
terminal redundancy, about 104% of the genomic DNA molecule is
packaged into phage heads on subsequent rounds of packaging .
Few genes coding for structural components were identified on the
Aa
23
genome . The gene products of orf42, orf55, orf63, orf64,
and orf59 seem to be elements of the head, tail, tail fibers,
and baseplate, respectively, of the Aa
23
phage particle (Table 1) . ORF42 contains a phage Mu
protein F-like domain, from amino acid 156 to 262, found in members
of a family representing possible minor phage head proteins (PFAM
accession number
PF04233, e value of 2.7e–30) . It shows significant
amino acid sequence homologies to one member of this family, the gene
7 protein of bacteriophage SPP1, which has been previously described
as being required for viral head morphogenesis (1) .
Programmed translational frameshifts occur in the tail gene operon of
several bacteriophages, usually in the gene preceding the tape
measure protein (7, 19) . Indeed,
a small additional orf (orf54') is present upstream of
orf55 on the Aa
23
genome (Fig . 1) . This 99-amino-acid ORF starts with
a cysteine in the –1 reading frame at 135 nucleotides before the end
of orf54 and extends 12 nucleotides into orf55 (data
not shown) . Seventy-two nucleotides downstream of the first codon of
orf54', a stretch of seven T is found, which may be related to
sites used for the –1 translational frameshift (10) .
Thus, orf54' may be translated as an extension of orf54
following a –1 translational frameshift . The gene product of orf54-orf54'
is predicted to be composed of 194 amino acids . Both, ORF54 and
ORF54-ORF54' have unknown functions .
BLAST analysis of the phage genomic sequence revealed two segments
of strong homology over 8.7% of the Aa
23
genome (average of 97% homology over 3,795 bp) with the A .
actinomycetemcomitans strain HK1651 genomic sequence (ftp://ftp.genome.ou.edu/pub/act)
(Fig . 1) . To determine whether these homologies are part
of a degenerate prophage or some other modularly related prophage,
40-kb genomic sequences flanking the region of homology on either
side were analyzed . Only four additional phage-related ORFs
were identified among 80 potential ORFs detected . This indicates that
this genomic region of A . actinomycetemcomitans strain HK1651
contains an Aa
23-related
prophage remnant rather than an intact prophage . Therefore, it was
not surprising that we were not able to induce phage production from
A . actinomycetemcomitans strain HK1651 by mitomycin C
treatment .
A . actinomycetemcomitans is most closely related to Haemophilus
aphrophilus and other members of the family Pasteurellaceae
(3) while the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa
is also a gammaproteobacterium (family Xanthomonadaceae) more
distantly related to H . influenzae (32) .
Ten Aa
23
ORFs share homologies with ORFs of
flu
(14) and are present in a very similar gene order
on both genomes . 36% of the Aa
23
ORFs (24 of 66) share homology with hypothetical proteins from X .
fastidiosa (Table 1 and data not shown) . Interestingly,
14 of these ORFs share homology and show a similar gene order
to ORFs contained in X . fastidiosa strain 9a5c prophages XfP3
and/or XfP4 (Table 1 and data not shown) . These observations
suggest that Aa
23
is related to
flu
and XfP3/XfP4 and that they could have had common ancestor(s) .
Nucleotide sequence accession number. The nucleotide sequence reported in this paper has been assigned accession number AJ560763 in the EMBL database .
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
We are very grateful to Peter Philippsen for providing the sequencing
facilities and to Tom Bickle for very fruitful discussions and
comments on an earlier version of the manuscript . We also thank Eric
Kofoid and Sophie Lemire-Brachat for advice concerning the semirandom
PCR protocol and the annotation and submission of the Aa
23
genomic sequence, respectively . We are grateful to Mark Borodovsky
and Ryan Mills for help with gene annotation improvement . We thank
Mogens Kilian for A . actinomycetemcomitans strain HK1651 and
the Actinobacillus Genome Sequencing Project, Bruce Roe, Fares
Najar, Allison Gillaspy, Sandra Clifton, Tom Ducey, Lisa Lewis, and
David Dyer for the A . actinomycetemcomitans sequencing data .
Finally, we thank Sylvia Voegeli and Anita Lerch for technical
assistance .
This work was supported by the Swiss Dental Association (SSO, grant no . 196) .
| FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author . Mailing address: Institute for
Preventive Dentistry and Oral Microbiology, Hebelstrasse 3, 4056 Basel,
Switzerland . Phone: 41 61 2672601 . Fax: 41 61 2672658 . E-mail: juerg.meyer@unibas.ch.
This paper is dedicated to Werner Arber on the occasion of his 75th
birthday .
Present address: Biocenter, Department of Molecular Microbiology,
4056 Basel, Switzerland .
Present address: Center for Genome Technology, Duke University
Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710 .
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