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Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection
Synechococcus is an abundant marine cyanobacterium that significantly contributes to primary production. Lytic phages are thought to have a major impact on cyanobacterial population dynamics and evolution. Previously, an investigation of the transcriptional response of three Synechococcus strains to...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5490813/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574452 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v9060136 |
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author | Fedida, Ayalla Lindell, Debbie |
author_facet | Fedida, Ayalla Lindell, Debbie |
author_sort | Fedida, Ayalla |
collection | PubMed |
description | Synechococcus is an abundant marine cyanobacterium that significantly contributes to primary production. Lytic phages are thought to have a major impact on cyanobacterial population dynamics and evolution. Previously, an investigation of the transcriptional response of three Synechococcus strains to infection by the T4-like cyanomyovirus, Syn9, revealed that while the transcript levels of the vast majority of host genes declined soon after infection, those for some genes increased or remained stable. In order to assess the role of two such host-response genes during infection, we inactivated them in Synechococcus sp. strain WH8102. One gene, SYNW1659, encodes a domain of unknown function (DUF3387) that is associated with restriction enzymes. The second gene, SYNW1946, encodes a PIN-PhoH protein, of which the PIN domain is common in bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems. Neither of the inactivation mutations impacted host growth or the length of the Syn9 lytic cycle. However, the DUF3387 mutant supported significantly lower phage DNA replication and yield of phage progeny than the wild-type, suggesting that the product of this host gene aids phage production. The PIN-PhoH mutant, on the other hand, allowed for significantly higher Syn9 genomic DNA replication and progeny production, suggesting that this host gene plays a role in restraining the infection process. Our findings indicate that host-response genes play a functional role during infection and suggest that some function in an attempt at defense against the phage, while others are exploited by the phage for improved infection. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5490813 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-54908132017-06-30 Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection Fedida, Ayalla Lindell, Debbie Viruses Article Synechococcus is an abundant marine cyanobacterium that significantly contributes to primary production. Lytic phages are thought to have a major impact on cyanobacterial population dynamics and evolution. Previously, an investigation of the transcriptional response of three Synechococcus strains to infection by the T4-like cyanomyovirus, Syn9, revealed that while the transcript levels of the vast majority of host genes declined soon after infection, those for some genes increased or remained stable. In order to assess the role of two such host-response genes during infection, we inactivated them in Synechococcus sp. strain WH8102. One gene, SYNW1659, encodes a domain of unknown function (DUF3387) that is associated with restriction enzymes. The second gene, SYNW1946, encodes a PIN-PhoH protein, of which the PIN domain is common in bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems. Neither of the inactivation mutations impacted host growth or the length of the Syn9 lytic cycle. However, the DUF3387 mutant supported significantly lower phage DNA replication and yield of phage progeny than the wild-type, suggesting that the product of this host gene aids phage production. The PIN-PhoH mutant, on the other hand, allowed for significantly higher Syn9 genomic DNA replication and progeny production, suggesting that this host gene plays a role in restraining the infection process. Our findings indicate that host-response genes play a functional role during infection and suggest that some function in an attempt at defense against the phage, while others are exploited by the phage for improved infection. MDPI 2017-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5490813/ /pubmed/28574452 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v9060136 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Fedida, Ayalla Lindell, Debbie Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title | Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title_full | Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title_fullStr | Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title_full_unstemmed | Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title_short | Two Synechococcus genes, Two Different Effects on Cyanophage Infection |
title_sort | two synechococcus genes, two different effects on cyanophage infection |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5490813/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574452 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v9060136 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT fedidaayalla twosynechococcusgenestwodifferenteffectsoncyanophageinfection AT lindelldebbie twosynechococcusgenestwodifferenteffectsoncyanophageinfection |