Small but sufficient: the Rhodococcus phage RRH1 has the smallest known Siphoviridae genome at 14.2 kilobases.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages are considered to be the most abundant biological entities on the planet. The Siphoviridae are the most commonly encountered tailed phages and contain double-stranded DNA with an average genome size of ∼50 kb. This paper describes the isolation from four different activated sludge plants of the phage RRH1, which is polyvalent, lysing five Rhodococcus species. It has a capsid diameter of only ∼43 nm. Whole-genome sequencing of RRH1 revealed a novel circularly permuted DNA sequence (14,270 bp) carrying 20 putative open reading frames. The genome has a modular arrangement, as reported for those of most Siphoviridae phages, but appears to encode only structural proteins and carry a single lysis gene. All genes are transcribed in the same direction. RRH1 has the smallest genome y

SUBMITTER: Petrovski S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3255915 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature