期刊
CELL REPORTS
卷 35, 期 10, 页码 -出版社
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109214
关键词
-
类别
资金
- Danish Council for Independent Research [4184-00109B]
- Danish AgriFish Agency of Ministry of Environment and Food [34009-140873]
- Intralytix, Inc.
- ETH Zurich funds [23651]
Phase variation is a common mechanism for creating phenotypic heterogeneity in bacteria, and studies show that phages can adapt to phase-variable hosts by mimicking their hosts and encoding hypermutable polyG tracts to generate diverse phage populations. This phenomenon promotes co-existence of phages and hosts in a shared niche, suggesting that phase variation may be a widespread strategy for creating phenotypically diverse phage populations.
Phase variation is a common mechanism for creating phenotypic heterogeneity of surface structures in bacteria important for niche adaptation. In Campylobacter, phase variation occurs by random variation in hypermutable homonucleotide 7-11 G (polyG) tracts. To elucidate how phages adapt to phase-variable hosts, we study Fletchervirus phages infecting Campylobacter dependent on a phase-variable receptor. Our data demonstrate that Fletcherviruses mimic their host and encode hypermutable polyG tracts, leading to phase-variable expression of two of four receptor-binding proteins. This creates phenotypically diverse phage populations, including a sub-population that infects the bacterial host when the phase-variable receptor is not expressed. Such population dynamics of both phage and host promote co-existence in a shared niche. Strikingly, we identify polyG tracts in more than 100 phage genera, infecting more than 70 bacterial species. Future experimental work may confirm phase variation as a widespread strategy for creating phenotypically diverse phage populations.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据