Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Isolation and characterization of Thermus bacteriophages

  • Published:
Archives of Virology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary.

One-hundred-fifteen bacteriophage strains were isolated from alkaline hot springs in Iceland, New Zealand, Russia (Kamchatka), and the U.S.A. The phages belonged to the Myoviridae, Siphoviridae, Tectiviridae, and Inoviridae families. Over 50% of isolates were isometric or filamentous. One type of siphovirus had giant tails of over 800 nm in length. Phages were further characterized by host range, genome size, DNA restriction endonuclease digestion patterns, and temperature and pH sensitivity. Myoviruses and tectiviruses had a worldwide distribution. Most phages were narrowly host-specific and all were highly resistant against heating and alkaline and acidic pH. This is the first time that tectiviruses and filamentous phages are reported for bacteria of the Thermus-Deinococcus phylum. The presence of tectiviruses, inoviruses, and myoviruses is attributed to acquisition from ancestral γ-proteobacteria by horizontal gene transfer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • H-W Ackermann (2001) ArticleTitleFrequency of phage descriptions in the year 2000. Arch Virol 146 843–857 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s007050170120 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3MXltVemtbY%3D Occurrence Handle11448025

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ackermann H-W, DuBow MS (1987) Virus of prokaryotes, vol II, natural groups of bacteriophages. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 1–54 and 171–218

  • H-W Ackermann R Roy M Martin MRV Murthy WA Smirnoff (1978) ArticleTitlePartial characterization of a cubic Bacillus phage. Can J Microbiol 24 986–993 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaE1cXlsVehtLw%3D Occurrence Handle688106

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Adams MH (1959) Bacteriophages. Interscience Publishers, New York, pp 29–30 and 450–451

  • Bamford DH (2005) Tectiviridae. In: Fauquet CM, Mayo MA, Maniloff J, Desselberger U, Ball LA (eds) Virus taxonomy. Eighth report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Academic Press/Elsevier, London, pp 81–85

  • PL Berquist DR Love JE Croft MB Streiff RM Daniel HW Morgan (1987) ArticleTitleGenetics and potential biotechnological applications of thermophilic and extremely thermophilic microorganisms. Biotechnol Genet Eng Rev 5 199–244

    Google Scholar 

  • T Blöndal A Thorisdottir U Unnsteinsdottir S Hjorleifsdottir A Aevarsson S Ernstsson OH Fridjonsson S Skirnisdottir JO Wheat AG Hermannsdottir ST Sigurdsson GO Hreggvidsson AV Smith JK Kristjansson (2005) ArticleTitleIsolation and characterization of a thermostable RNA ligase 1 from a Thermus scotoductus bacteriophage TS2126 with good single-stranded DNA ligation properties. Nucleic Acids Res 33 135–142 Occurrence Handle15642699

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DE Bradley (1964) ArticleTitleThe structure of some bacteriophages associated with male strains of Escherichia coli. J Gen Microbiol 35 471–482 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:CCuC2cnnvFI%3D Occurrence Handle14188773

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • HR Chapman JR Norris (1966) ArticleTitleFour new bacteriophages of Bacillus thuringiensis. J Appl Bacteriol 29 529–535 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:CCiB2MvjtFY%3D Occurrence Handle5980917

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • M-C Chopin A Rouault SD Ehrlich M Gautier (2002) ArticleTitleFilamentous phage active on the gram-positive bacterium Propionibacterium freudenreichii. J Bacteriol 184 2030–2033 Occurrence Handle10.1128/JB.184.7.2030-2033.2002 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD38Xit1Gkuro%3D Occurrence Handle11889111

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • WP Cochlan J Wikner GF Steward DC Smith F Azam (1993) ArticleTitleSpatial distribution of viruses, bacteria and chlorophyll a in neritic, oceanic and estuarine environments. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 92 77–87

    Google Scholar 

  • P Courvalin (1994) ArticleTitleTransfer of antibiotic resistance genes between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 38 1447–1451 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK2cXltVelt70%3D Occurrence Handle7979269

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Day LA, Hendrix R (2005) Inoviridae. In: Fauquet CM, Mayo MA, Maniloff J, Desselberger U, Ball LA (eds) Virus taxonomy. Eighth report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Academic Press/Elsevier, London, pp 279–287

  • Ferguson GC, Heinemann JA (2002) Recent history of trans-kingdom conjugation. In: Syvanen M, Kado CI (eds) Horizontal gene transfer, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 3–17

  • A Friedrich C Prust T Hartsch A Henne B Averhoff (2002) ArticleTitleMolecular analyses of the natural transformation machinery and identification of pilus structures in the extremely thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus strain HB27. Appl Environ Microbiol 68 745–755 Occurrence Handle10.1128/AEM.68.2.745-755.2002 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD38XhtV2ns7g%3D Occurrence Handle11823215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • P Hugenholtz BM Goebel NR Pace (1998) ArticleTitleImpact of culture-independent studies on the emerging phylogenetic view of bacterial diversity. J Bacteriol 180 4765–4774 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXmt1Sgu7k%3D Occurrence Handle9733676

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • AY Kim HP Blaschek (1991) ArticleTitleIsolation and characterization of a filamentous virus-like particle from Clostridium acetobutylicum NCBI 6444. J Bacteriol 173 530–535 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK3MXnvVelsQ%3D%3D Occurrence Handle1987147

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence JG (2002) The dynamics of bacterial genomes. In: Syvanen M, Kado CI (eds) Horizontal gene transfer, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 95–110

  • R Luftig (1967) ArticleTitleAn accurate measurement of the catalase crystal period and its use as an internal marker for electron microscopy. J Ultrastruct Res 20 91–102 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0022-5320(67)80038-8 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:CS%2BB1MvgtVc%3D Occurrence Handle5623952

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • P Mazodier J Davies (1991) ArticleTitleGene transfer between distantly related bacteria. Annu Rev Genet 25 147–171 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.ge.25.120191.001051 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK38XitVyltLs%3D Occurrence Handle1812805

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mindich L, Bamford DH (1988) Lipid-containing bacteriophages. In: Calendar R (ed), The Bacteriophages, vol 2. Plenum Press, New York, pp 505–507 and 510

  • GJ Morgan GF Hatfull S Casjens RW Hendrix (2002) ArticleTitleBacteriophage Mu genome sequence: analysis and comparison with Mu-like prophages in Haemophilus, Neisseria, and Deinococcus. J Mol Biol 317 337–359 Occurrence Handle10.1006/jmbi.2002.5437 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD38XitlGntrs%3D Occurrence Handle11922669

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • SA Overman P Bondre NC Maiti GJ Thomas SuffixJr (2005) ArticleTitleStructural characterization of the filamentous bacteriophage PH75 from Thermus thermophilus by Raman and UC-resonance Raman spectroscopy. Biochemistry 44 3091–3100 Occurrence Handle10.1021/bi048163d Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2MXps1KktA%3D%3D Occurrence Handle15723554

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Patel BKC (1985) Extremely thermophilic bacteria in New Zealand hot springs. PhD Thesis, University of Waikato, New Zealand

  • DM Pederson LC Welsh DA Marvin M Sampson RN Perham MX Yu MR Slater (2001) ArticleTitleThe protein capsid of filamentous bacteriophage PH75 from Thermus thermophilus. J Mol Biol 309 401–421 Occurrence Handle10.1006/jmbi.2001.4685 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3MXjslans7s%3D Occurrence Handle11371161

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D Prangishvili K Stedman W Zillig (2001) ArticleTitleViruses of the extremely thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus. Trends Microbiol 9 29–43 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0966-842X(00)01910-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raven NDH (1995) Genetics of Thermus. Plasmid, bacteriophage, potential vectors, gene transfer systems. In: Sharp R, Williams R (eds) Thermus species. Plenum Press, New York, pp 157–184

  • Roossinck MJ, Bujarski J, Ding SW, Hajimorad R, Hanada K, Scott S, Tousignant M (2005) Family Bromoviridae. In: Fauquet CM, Mayo MA, Maniloff J, Desselberger U, Ball LA (eds) Virus taxonomy. Eighth report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Academic Press/Elsevier, London (in print)

  • Y Sakaki T Oshima (1975) ArticleTitleIsolation and characterization of a bacteriophage infectious to an extreme thermophile, Thermus thermophilus HB8. J Virol 15 1449–1453 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:CSqC1M3hslI%3D Occurrence Handle1142476

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Y Sakaki T Oshima (1976) ArticleTitleA new lipid-containing phage infecting acidophilic thermophilic bacteria. Virology 75 256–259 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0042-6822(76)90024-6 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaE2sXhtlKjsA%3D%3D Occurrence Handle10670

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Y Sakaki K Yamada M Oshima T Oshima (1977) ArticleTitleBacteriophage φNS11: a lipid-containing phage of acidophilic thermophilic bacteria. II. Purification and some properties of the phage. J Biochem (Tokyo) 82 1451–1456 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaE1cXhvVKnug%3D%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • CR Woese (1987) ArticleTitleBacterial evolution. Microbiol Rev 51 221–271 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaL2sXkslertLc%3D Occurrence Handle2439888

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • M-X Yu Z-T Si (1991) Experimental techniques for bacteriophages. Science Press Beijing 5

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Promega Corporation, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

    M. X. Yu & M. R. Slater

  2. Félix d’Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses, Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec, Canada

    H.-W. Ackermann

Authors
  1. M. X. Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. R. Slater
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H.-W. Ackermann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yu, M., Slater, M. & Ackermann, HW. Isolation and characterization of Thermus bacteriophages. Arch Virol 151, 663–679 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-005-0667-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-005-0667-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation