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Microorganisms
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Temperate Phages
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Temperate Phages

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 6926

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wolfgang Beyer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Hohenheim, Institute of Animal Science, Department Livestock Infectiology and Environmental Hygiene, Garbenstraße 30, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: bacteriophages in human and veterinary medicine; epidemiology and ecology of Bacillus cereus sensu lato
Dr. Karin Moelling

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Institute for Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Gloriastr. 32, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: retroviruses; retroviral RNase H;antiretroviral mechanisms; oncogenes; Mil/Raf kinase; signal transduction in normal and tumor cells; gene regulation; cell-cycle; transcription factors; PDZ domains; scaffold proteins; oncogenes in leukemias; lymphomas; cancer; gene medicine/therapy; vaccines; HIV/AIDS; Influenza; viruses in immune-suppression; antiviral drug design; silencing by siDNA; biotechnology; non-coding RNA; endogenous viruses; evolution of viruses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect only prokaryotes. They are considered the most ubiquitous biological entity on earth. Their interaction with prokaryotic hosts affects the composition and balanced diversity of microbiomes in human and animal organs, like the gut, thereby influencing the wellbeing of the macrohosts. They play a role in balancing global ecosystems, such as oceans.

Temperate phages play a pivotal role through their ability to regulate their host’s behavior. They drive the evolution of members of bacterial communities on both the individual and population levels by supporting their hosts’ adaptation to otherwise non-permissive environments, promoting bacterial fitness, including through high mutator status, broadening of metabolic repertoires, enhancing or even conferring the virulence traits of pathogens via horizontal gene transfer, promoting biofilm formation, and regulating sporulation and nitrogen fixation, among other features, altogether described as the “lysogenic conversion” of bacteria.

Moreover, temperate phages have been shown to serve as regulatory switches when integrated into bacterial genes and following restoration of their function after exact excision, a phenomenon known as “active lysogeny”.

While researchers have already been fascinated by temperate bacteriophages for decades, we have only recently become aware of the dimensions of their influence on the evolution of life on our planet. While knowledge on the interaction of phages with bacteria is rapidly increasing, publications on archaea and their phages looks rather scarce.

The current Special Issue aims to update the common knowledge on the role and function of temperate phages in any ecosystem under investigation. Contributions from all fields of research on this topic are highly welcome.

Dr. Wolfgang Beyer
Prof. h.c. Dr. rer. nat. Karin Moelling
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • temperate bacteriophages
  • prophage
  • phagenome
  • virome
  • lysogeny
  • coevolution

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 5557 KiB  
Article
A Metzincin and TIMP-Like Protein Pair of a Phage Origin Sensitize Listeria monocytogenes to Phage Lysins and Other Cell Wall Targeting Agents
by Etai Boichis, Nadejda Sigal, Ilya Borovok and Anat A. Herskovits
Microorganisms 2021, 9(6), 1323; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061323 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2133
Abstract
Infection of mammalian cells by Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) was shown to be facilitated by its phage elements. In a search for additional phage remnants that play a role in Lm’s lifecycle, we identified a conserved locus containing two XRE regulators [...] Read more.
Infection of mammalian cells by Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) was shown to be facilitated by its phage elements. In a search for additional phage remnants that play a role in Lm’s lifecycle, we identified a conserved locus containing two XRE regulators and a pair of genes encoding a secreted metzincin protease and a lipoprotein structurally similar to a TIMP-family metzincin inhibitor. We found that the XRE regulators act as a classic CI/Cro regulatory switch that regulates the expression of the metzincin and TIMP-like genes under intracellular growth conditions. We established that when these genes are expressed, their products alter Lm morphology and increase its sensitivity to phage mediated lysis, thereby enhancing virion release. Expression of these proteins also sensitized the bacteria to cell wall targeting compounds, implying that they modulate the cell wall structure. Our data indicate that these effects are mediated by the cleavage of the TIMP-like protein by the metzincin, and its subsequent release to the extracellular milieu. While the importance of this locus to Lm pathogenicity remains unclear, the observation that this phage-associated protein pair act upon the bacterial cell wall may hold promise in the field of antibiotic potentiation to combat antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Temperate Phages)
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19 pages, 4385 KiB  
Article
Prophage Genomics and Ecology in the Family Rhodobacteraceae
by Kathryn Forcone, Felipe H. Coutinho, Giselle S. Cavalcanti and Cynthia B. Silveira
Microorganisms 2021, 9(6), 1115; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061115 - 21 May 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4071
Abstract
Roseobacters are globally abundant bacteria with critical roles in carbon and sulfur biogeochemical cycling. Here, we identified 173 new putative prophages in 79 genomes of Rhodobacteraceae. These prophages represented 1.3 ± 0.15% of the bacterial genomes and had no to low homology [...] Read more.
Roseobacters are globally abundant bacteria with critical roles in carbon and sulfur biogeochemical cycling. Here, we identified 173 new putative prophages in 79 genomes of Rhodobacteraceae. These prophages represented 1.3 ± 0.15% of the bacterial genomes and had no to low homology with reference and metagenome-assembled viral genomes from aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Among the newly identified putative prophages, 35% encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), mostly involved in secondary metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and cofactor and vitamin production. The analysis of integration sites and gene homology showed that 22 of the putative prophages were actually gene transfer agents (GTAs) similar to a GTA of Rhodobacter capsulatus. Twenty-three percent of the predicted prophages were observed in the TARA Oceans viromes generated from free viral particles, suggesting that they represent active prophages capable of induction. The distribution of these prophages was significantly associated with latitude and temperature. The prophages most abundant at high latitudes encoded acpP, an auxiliary metabolic gene involved in lipid synthesis and membrane fluidity at low temperatures. Our results show that prophages and gene transfer agents are significant sources of genomic diversity in roseobacter, with potential roles in the ecology of this globally distributed bacterial group. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Temperate Phages)
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