Lytic Legends: FarmerDoug and Jollipop, Microbacterium foliorum Bacteriophages
Abstract
Bacteriophages, viruses that target and kill bacteria, are highly abundant across the globe, with an estimated 10³¹ believed to exist. Their microscopic size however has allowed them to remain largely unexplored by the scientific community. Phage hunters have only just begun to scrape the surface of knowledge of these ubiquitous entities by discovering, extracting, and analyzing phages and their DNA. Phages are vital in learning about molecular biology and genomics in order to further understand it, due to their unique properties and diversity. We identified and isolated eleven different phages that infect the host bacterium, Microbacterium foliorum, as part of the 2023-24 SEA-PHAGES class. These phages were then sent for microscopic analysis to view and analyze the phage particle morphology. For each of these similarities and differences between the various isolates were noted and probable clusters for each phage were predicted. Ultimately two of the eleven were chosen for full genomic DNA sequencing. We have analyzed and annotated both of the sequenced genomes of these two phages. FarmerDoug was found to be a member of the EA cluster and has 41,758 base pairs of DNA, while Jollipop is a member of the EC cluster with a genome of 53,089 base pairs. When starting this project, there were around 550 sequenced phages known to infect M. foliorum which could be divided into about 16 clusters. Of these, roughly ⅓ of the phages belong to the EA cluster, while only 43 phages belong to the EC cluster. Additional characterization of these phages and comparison with other known members will be presented. Our data contributes to the large database of phages that continues to grow and allows microbiologists and the scientific community to gain more knowledge on how phages evolve and influence bacterial evolution.
Lytic Legends: FarmerDoug and Jollipop, Microbacterium foliorum Bacteriophages
CNS Atrium
Bacteriophages, viruses that target and kill bacteria, are highly abundant across the globe, with an estimated 10³¹ believed to exist. Their microscopic size however has allowed them to remain largely unexplored by the scientific community. Phage hunters have only just begun to scrape the surface of knowledge of these ubiquitous entities by discovering, extracting, and analyzing phages and their DNA. Phages are vital in learning about molecular biology and genomics in order to further understand it, due to their unique properties and diversity. We identified and isolated eleven different phages that infect the host bacterium, Microbacterium foliorum, as part of the 2023-24 SEA-PHAGES class. These phages were then sent for microscopic analysis to view and analyze the phage particle morphology. For each of these similarities and differences between the various isolates were noted and probable clusters for each phage were predicted. Ultimately two of the eleven were chosen for full genomic DNA sequencing. We have analyzed and annotated both of the sequenced genomes of these two phages. FarmerDoug was found to be a member of the EA cluster and has 41,758 base pairs of DNA, while Jollipop is a member of the EC cluster with a genome of 53,089 base pairs. When starting this project, there were around 550 sequenced phages known to infect M. foliorum which could be divided into about 16 clusters. Of these, roughly ⅓ of the phages belong to the EA cluster, while only 43 phages belong to the EC cluster. Additional characterization of these phages and comparison with other known members will be presented. Our data contributes to the large database of phages that continues to grow and allows microbiologists and the scientific community to gain more knowledge on how phages evolve and influence bacterial evolution.