Geobacillus Bacteriophages from Compost Heaps: Representatives of Three New Genera within Thermophilic Siphoviruses.

ABSTRACT: We report a detailed characterization of five thermophilic bacteriophages (phages) that were isolated from compost heaps in Vilnius, Lithuania using Geobacillus thermodenitrificans strains as the hosts for phage propagation. The efficiency of plating experiments revealed that phages formed plaques from 45 to 80 °C. Furthermore, most of the phages formed plaques surrounded by halo zones, indicating the presence of phage-encoded bacterial exopolysaccharide (EPS)-degrading depolymerases. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that all phages were siphoviruses characterized by an isometric head (from ~63 nm to ~67 nm in diameter) and a non-contractile flexible tail (from ~137 nm to ~150 nm in length). The genome sequencing resulted in genomes ranging from 38,161 to 39,

SUBMITTER: Simoliunas E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10459684 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature