A mutant bacteriophage evolved to infect resistant bacteria gained a broader host range

Summary Bacteriophages (phages) are the most abundant entities in nature, yet little is known about their capacity to acquire new hosts and invade new niches. By exploiting the Gram‐positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and its lytic phage SPO1 as a model, we followed the coevoluti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular microbiology 2019-06, Vol.111 (6), p.1463-1475
Main Authors: Habusha, Michal, Tzipilevich, Elhanan, Fiyaksel, Osher, Ben‐Yehuda, Sigal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacillus subtilis - virology
Bacteria
Bacteriophages - genetics
Biological evolution
Carrier Proteins - genetics
Coevolution
Dependence
Fibers
Glycosylation
Host range
Host Specificity
Mutation
Niches
Phages
Polymers
Soil bacteria
Soil microorganisms
Species
Viral Proteins - genetics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary Bacteriophages (phages) are the most abundant entities in nature, yet little is known about their capacity to acquire new hosts and invade new niches. By exploiting the Gram‐positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and its lytic phage SPO1 as a model, we followed the coevolution of bacteria and phages. After infection, phage‐resistant bacteria were readily isolated. These bacteria were defective in production of glycosylated wall teichoic acid (WTA) polymers that served as SPO1 receptor. Subsequently, a SPO1 mutant phage that could infect the resistant bacteria evolved. The emerging phage contained mutations in two genes, encoding the baseplate and fibers required for host attachment. Remarkably, the mutant phage gained the capacity to infect non‐host Bacillus species that are not infected by the wild‐type phage. We provide evidence that the evolved phage lost its dependency on the species‐specific glycosylation pattern of WTA polymers. Instead, the mutant phage gained the capacity to directly adhere to the WTA backbone, conserved among different species, thereby crossing the species barrier. By following the arm race between the Gram positive bacterium B. subtilis and its lytic phage SPO1, we isolated mutant phages, which not only could infect B. subtilis resistant bacteria, but also gained the ability to invade new bacterial hosts, inaccessible to the wild type phage. We found that the evolved phage can directly adhere to a cell surface component, highly conserved among different species, thereby enabling the cross of the species barrier.
ISSN:0950-382X
1365-2958
DOI:10.1111/mmi.14231