Novel "Superspreader" Bacteriophages Promote Horizontal Gene Transfer by Transformation.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages infect an estimated 10²³ to 10²⁵ bacterial cells each second, many of which carry physiologically relevant plasmids (e.g., those encoding antibiotic resistance). However, even though phage-plasmid interactions occur on a massive scale and have potentially significant evolutionary, ecological, and biomedical implications, plasmid fate upon phage infection and lysis has not been investigated to date. Here we show that a subset of the natural lytic phage population, which we dub "superspreaders," releases substantial amounts of intact, transformable plasmid DNA upon lysis, thereby promoting horizontal gene transfer by transformation. Two novel Escherichia coli phage superspreaders, SUSP1 and SUSP2, liberated four evolutionarily distinct plasmids with equal

SUBMITTER: Keen EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5241400 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature