Investigation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PcyII-10 variants resisting infection by N4-like phage Ab09 in search for genes involved in phage adsorption

Bacteria and their bacteriophages coexist and coevolve for the benefit of both in a mutualistic association. Multiple mechanisms are used by bacteria to resist phages in a trade-off between survival and maintenance of fitness. In vitro studies allow inquiring into the fate of virus and host in different conditions aimed at mimicking natural environment. We analyse here the mutations emerging in a clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain in response to infection by Ab09, a N4-like lytic podovirus and describe a variety of chromosomal deletions and mutations conferring resistance. Some deletions result from illegitimate recombination taking place during long-term maintenance of the phage genome. Phage variants with mutations in a tail fiber gene are selected during pseudolysogeny with the capacity to infect resistant cells and produce large plaques. These results highlight the complex host/phage association and suggest that phage Ab09 promotes bacterial chromosome rearrangements. Finally this study points to the possible role of two bacterial genes in Ab09 phage adhesion to the cell, rpsB encoding protein S2 of the 30S ribosomal subunit and ORF1587 encoding a Wzy-like membrane protein involved in LPS biosynthesis.