Investigation of genome sequence and gene expression regulation in T4 related bacteriophages

The complete genome sequence of bacteriophage VR7 has been determined. The genome sequence is 169,285 nt, with an overall G+C content of 40,3%, compared with 35.3 % of T4. VR7 encodes 293 putative protein-encoding open reading frames (ORFs) and tRNAMet. In total, 211 of the 293 VR7 open reading frames encode putative proteins that share 30% ‒ 97% amino acid sequence identity with those found in T4; 46 ORFs resemble genes from other T4-like phages, 9 show similarities to genes of non T4 type phages and 27 ORFs lack any database matches. Homologs to the T4 α-gt, β-gt, SegA, SegB, SegC, SegD, SegE, I-TevI, I-TevII, I-TevIII, gp42, Ac, NrdG, NrdD, Arn, IPI, IPII, IPIII, Mrh as well as the T4-specific tRNAs are all absent in VR7. The amino acid sequences of the three major structural proteins gp23, gp18 and gp19 of VR7 show 84.9%, 71.3% and 69.9% aa identity respectively with adequate proteins of T4. In total, 43 PE, 43 PM and 44 PL have been identified in VR7. Moreover, phage VR7 encodes homologues of all transcription-associated proteins of T4. The functional complementation experiments of VR7 MotA, sharing only 34% amino acid sequence identity with MotA of T4, have been performed. It has been demonstrated, that the presence of plasmid encoded VR7 MotA complements the T4motAΔ mutant for growth in E. coli, and activates middle-mode transcription during the growth of T4motA-. Bacteriophages VR5, VR7 and VR20 have been characterized. It has been demonstrated that these phages exhibit physiological properties that are distinct from those documented for characterized T4-related E. coli bacteriophages. Phylogenetic analysis show that VR5, VR7 and VR20, together with phage JS98, fall into the distinct subgroup of T4 type bacteriophages