Skip to main content
PMC home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1997 Aug;63(8):3246–3253. doi: 10.1128/aem.63.8.3246-3253.1997

Two groups of bacteriophages infecting Streptococcus thermophilus can be distinguished on the basis of mode of packaging and genetic determinants for major structural proteins.

C Le Marrec 1, D van Sinderen 1, L Walsh 1, E Stanley 1, E Vlegels 1, S Moineau 1, P Heinze 1, G Fitzgerald 1, B Fayard 1
PMCID: PMC168623  PMID: 9251212

Abstract

A comparative study of 30 phages of Streptococcus thermophilus was performed based on DNA restriction profiles, DNA homology, structural proteins, packaging mechanisms, and host range data. All phages exhibited distinct DNA restriction profiles, with some phages displaying similarly sized restriction fragments. DNA homology was shown to be present among all 30 phages. The phages could be divided into two groups on the basis of their packaging mechanism as was derived from the appearance of submolar DNA fragments in restriction enzyme digests and the presence (cos-containing phages) or absence (pac-containing phages) of cohesive genomic extremities. Interestingly, the 19 identified cos-containing phages possessed two major structural proteins (32 and 26 kDa) in contrast to the remaining 11 pac-containing phages, which possessed three major structural proteins (41, 25, and 13 kDa). Southern hybridization demonstrated that all pac-containing phages tested contain homologs of the genes encoding the three major structural proteins of the pac-containing phage O1205, whereas all cos-containing phages tested exhibit homology to the gene specifying one of the structural components of the cos-containing phage phi 7201. Fifty-seven percent of the phages (both cos and pac containing) possessed the previously identified 2.2-kb EcoRI fragment of the temperate S. thermophilus phage Sfi18 (H. Brüssow, A. Probst, M. Frémont, and J. Sidoti, Virology 200:854-857, 1994). No obvious correlation was detected between grouping based on packaging mechanism and host range data obtained with 39 industrial S. thermophilus strains.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.5 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ackermann H. W., DuBow M. S., Jarvis A. W., Jones L. A., Krylov V. N., Maniloff J., Rocourt J., Safferman R. S., Schneider J., Seldin L. The species concept and its application to tailed phages. Arch Virol. 1992;124(1-2):69–82. doi: 10.1007/BF01314626. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Benbadis L., Faelen M., Slos P., Fazel A., Mercenier A. Characterization and comparison of virulent bacteriophages of Streptococcus thermophilus isolated from yogurt. Biochimie. 1990 Dec;72(12):855–862. doi: 10.1016/0300-9084(90)90002-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Black L. W. DNA packaging in dsDNA bacteriophages. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1989;43:267–292. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.43.100189.001411. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Botstein D. A theory of modular evolution for bacteriophages. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1980;354:484–490. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1980.tb27987.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bradley D. E. Ultrastructure of bacteriophage and bacteriocins. Bacteriol Rev. 1967 Dec;31(4):230–314. doi: 10.1128/br.31.4.230-314.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Brussow H., Fremont M., Bruttin A., Sidoti J., Constable A., Fryder V. Detection and classification of Streptococcus thermophilus bacteriophages isolated from industrial milk fermentation. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1994 Dec;60(12):4537–4543. doi: 10.1128/aem.60.12.4537-4543.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bruttin A., Brüssow H. Site-specific spontaneous deletions in three genome regions of a temperate Streptococcus thermophilus phage. Virology. 1996 May 1;219(1):96–104. doi: 10.1006/viro.1996.0226. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Brüssow H., Bruttin A. Characterization of a temperate Streptococcus thermophilus bacteriophage and its genetic relationship with lytic phages. Virology. 1995 Oct 1;212(2):632–640. doi: 10.1006/viro.1995.1521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Carminati D., Giraffa G. Evidence and characterization of temperate bacteriophage in Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus St18. J Dairy Res. 1992 Feb;59(1):71–79. doi: 10.1017/s0022029900030260. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jarvis A. W. DNA-DNA Homology Between Lactic Streptococci and Their Temperate and Lytic Phages. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1984 May;47(5):1031–1038. doi: 10.1128/aem.47.5.1031-1038.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mercenier A. Molecular genetics of Streptococcus thermophilus. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 1990 Sep;7(1-2):61–77. doi: 10.1016/0378-1097(90)90697-o. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Moineau S., Walker S. A., Holler B. J., Vedamuthu E. R., Vandenbergh P. A. Expression of a Lactococcus lactis Phage Resistance Mechanism by Streptococcus thermophilus. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 Jul;61(7):2461–2466. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.7.2461-2466.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES