Introducing a Novel, Broad Host Range Temperate Phage Family Infecting Rhizobium leguminosarum and Beyond.

ABSTRACT: Temperate phages play important roles in bacterial communities but have been largely overlooked, particularly in non-pathogenic bacteria. In rhizobia the presence of temperate phages has the potential to have significant ecological impacts but few examples have been described. Here we characterize a novel group of 5 Rhizobium leguminosarum prophages, capable of sustaining infections across a broad host range within their host genus. Genome comparisons identified further putative prophages infecting multiple Rhizobium species isolated globally, revealing a wider family of 10 temperate phages including one previously described lytic phage, RHEph01, which appears to have lost the ability to form lysogens. Phylogenetic discordance between prophage and host phylogenies suggests a

SUBMITTER: Ford S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8631192 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature