Interaction between cyanophage MaMV-DC and eight Microcystis strains, revealed by genetic defense systems

Juanping Wang; Peng Bai; Qi Li; Yan Lin; Da Huo; Fei Ke; Qiya Zhang; Tao Li; Jindong Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.hal.2019.101699

Interaction between cyanophage MaMV-DC and eight Microcystis strains, revealed by genetic defense systems

Harmful Algae. 2019 May:85:101699. doi: 10.1016/j.hal.2019.101699. Epub 2019 Nov 8.

Authors

Juanping Wang¹, Peng Bai², Qi Li³, Yan Lin³, Da Huo², Fei Ke³, Qiya Zhang⁴, Tao Li⁵, Jindong Zhao⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China. Electronic address: zhangqy@ihb.ac.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China. Electronic address: litao@ihb.ac.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

PMID: 31810530
DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2019.101699

Abstract

Cyanophage MaMV-DC is a member of Myoviridae that was reported to specifically infect and lyse Microcystis aeruginosa FACHB-524 among 21 selected cyanobacterial strains. We reidentified the infection specificity of MaMV-DC among seven other Microcystis strains of different species. In our experiments, MaMV-DC infected three Microcystis strains but did not form plaque in Microcystis lawns. This indicated that MaMV-DC is at least a genus- rather than strain-specific virus. Cyanophage MaMV-DC genes were transcribed in M. aeruginosa FACHB-524, M. flos-aquae TF09, M. aeruginosa TA09 and M. wesenbergii DW09, and the growth of these Microcystis strains was inhibited by the addition of MaMV-DC. The predicted defense of eight Microcystis strains by CRISPR-Cas systems has shown mixed consistency with the infection experiment results, suggesting other defense or anti-defense systems play roles during infection process. Restriction-modification (RM) system analysis revealed an abundance of four types of RM proteins that may play roles in defense against cyanophages.

Keywords: Cyanophage; Genetic defense; Microcystis; Specificity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cyanobacteria*
Microcystis*