Marine viral particles reveal an expansive repertoire of phage-parasitizing mobile elements.

ABSTRACT: Phage satellites are mobile genetic elements that propagate by parasitizing bacteriophage replication. We report here the discovery of abundant and diverse phage satellites that were packaged as concatemeric repeats within naturally occurring bacteriophage particles in seawater. These same phage-parasitizing mobile elements were found integrated in the genomes of dominant co-occurring bacterioplankton species. Like known phage satellites, many marine phage satellites encoded genes for integration, DNA replication, phage interference, and capsid assembly. Many also contained distinctive gene suites indicative of unique virus hijacking, phage immunity, and mobilization mechanisms. Marine phage satellite sequences were widespread in local and global oceanic virioplankton populations, reflecti

SUBMITTER: Eppley JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9618062 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature