%0 Journal Article
%T Cluster K Mycobacteriophages: Insights into the Evolutionary Origins of Mycobacteriophage TM4
%A Welkin H. Pope
%A Christina M. Ferreira
%A Deborah Jacobs-Sera
%A Robert C. Benjamin
%A Ariangela J. Davis
%A Randall J. DeJong
%A Sarah C. R. Elgin
%A Forrest R. Guilfoile
%A Mark H. Forsyth
%A Alexander D. Harris
%A Samuel E. Harvey
%A Lee E. Hughes
%A Peter M. Hynes
%A Arrykka S. Jackson
%A Marilyn D. Jalal
%A Elizabeth A. MacMurray
%A Coreen M. Manley
%A Molly J. McDonough
%A Jordan L. Mosier
%A Larissa J. Osterbann
%A Hannah S. Rabinowitz
%A Corwin N. Rhyan
%A Daniel A. Russell
%A Margaret S. Saha
%A Christopher D. Shaffer
%A Stephanie E. Simon
%A Erika F. Sims
%A Isabel G. Tovar
%A Emilie G. Weisser
%A John T. Wertz
%A Kathleen A. Weston-Hafer
%A Kurt E. Williamson
%A Bo Zhang
%A Steven G. Cresawn
%A Paras Jain
%A Mariana Piuri
%A William R. Jacobs
%A Roger W. Hendrix
%A Graham F. Hatfull
%J PLOS ONE
%D 2011
%I Public Library of Science (PLoS)
%R 10.1371/journal.pone.0026750
%X Five newly isolated mycobacteriophages ¨CAngelica, CrimD, Adephagia, Anaya, and Pixie ¨C have similar genomic architectures to mycobacteriophage TM4, a previously characterized phage that is widely used in mycobacterial genetics. The nucleotide sequence similarities warrant grouping these into Cluster K, with subdivision into three subclusters: K1, K2, and K3. Although the overall genome architectures of these phages are similar, TM4 appears to have lost at least two segments of its genome, a central region containing the integration apparatus, and a segment at the right end. This suggests that TM4 is a recent derivative of a temperate parent, resolving a long-standing conundrum about its biology, in that it was reportedly recovered from a lysogenic strain of Mycobacterium avium, but it is not capable of forming lysogens in any mycobacterial host. Like TM4, all of the Cluster K phages infect both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria, and all of them ¨C with the exception of TM4 ¨C form stable lysogens in both Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis; immunity assays show that all five of these phages share the same immune specificity. TM4 infects these lysogens suggesting that it was either derived from a heteroimmune temperate parent or that it has acquired a virulent phenotype. We have also characterized a widely-used conditionally replicating derivative of TM4 and identified mutations conferring the temperature-sensitive phenotype. All of the Cluster K phages contain a series of well conserved 13 bp repeats associated with the translation initiation sites of a subset of the genes; approximately one half of these contain an additional sequence feature composed of imperfectly conserved 17 bp inverted repeats separated by a variable spacer. The K1 phages integrate into the host tmRNA and the Cluster K phages represent potential new tools for the genetics of M. tuberculosis and related species.
%U http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026750