Convergent evolution of pathogenicity islands in helper cos phage interference
File(s)
Author(s)
Carpena, Nuria
Manning, Keith A
Dokland, Terje
Marina, Alberto
Penades, Jose R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) are phage satellites that exploit the life cycle of their helper phages for their own benefit. Most SaPIs are packaged by their helper phages using a headful (pac) packaging mechanism. These SaPIs interfere with pac phage reproduction through a variety of strategies, including the redirection of phage capsid assembly to form small capsids, a process that depends on the expression of the SaPI-encoded cpmA and cpmB genes. Another SaPI subfamily is induced and packaged by cos-type phages, and although these cos SaPIs also block the life cycle of their inducing phages, the basis for this mechanism of interference remains to be deciphered. Here we have identified and characterized one mechanism by which the SaPIs interfere with cos phage reproduction. This mechanism depends on a SaPI-encoded gene, ccm, which encodes a protein involved in the production of small isometric capsids, compared with the prolate helper phage capsids. As the Ccm and CpmAB proteins are completely unrelated in sequence, this strategy represents a fascinating example of convergent evolution. Moreover, this result also indicates that the production of SaPI-sized particles is a widespread strategy of phage interference conserved during SaPI evolution.
Date Issued
2016-11-05
Date Acceptance
2016-07-28
Citation
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2016, 371 (1707)
ISSN
0962-8436
Publisher
Royal Society, The
Journal / Book Title
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume
371
Issue
1707
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the originalauthor and source are credited.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000385338300015&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
CAPSID SIZE DETERMINATION
GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIA
INTERNAL SCAFFOLDING PROTEIN
STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS
VIRULENCE GENES
80-ALPHA CAPSIDS
SAPI1 PROTEINS
FAMILY
DNA
PROCAPSIDS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 20150505
Date Publish Online
2016-11-05