RecFinder – a new tool to find phage proteins responsible for host recognition

(Bacterio)phages are bacterial viruses that represent the most abundant and genetically diverse biological entities on the planet [1,2]. The largest virus group, the order Caudovirales (containing 96% of all known phages), has evolved recognition peptides for efficient virus-host interaction [3]. The peptides, usually located at the phage tail fiber, baseplate and other tail proteins mediate recognition and attachment specifically to bacterial cell wall receptors - lipopolysaccharides, teichoic acids, proteins and flagella. These proteins responsible for host recognition and binding (HBP) are macromolecular machines that make the process of infection highly efficient and finely regulated, and most likely play an important role in the evolutionary success of tailed phages. As a result of this specific binding affinity certain phages can only infect certain bacteria, determining in this manner the phage host range [4]. (...