Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on April 7, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2008 25(7):1321-1332; doi:10.1093/molbev/msn080
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
25/7/1321    most recent
msn080v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Comeau, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Krisch, H. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Comeau, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Krisch, H. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Articles

The Capsid of the T4 Phage Superfamily: The Evolution, Diversity, and Structure of Some of the Most Prevalent Proteins in the Biosphere

André M. Comeau and Henry M. Krisch

Laboratoire de Microbiologie et Génétique Moléculaires, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse III, Toulouse, France

E-mail: krisch{at}ibcg.biotoul.fr.

Accepted for publication March 21, 2008.

The Escherichia coli bacteriophage T4 has served as a classic system in phage biology for more than 60 years. Only recently have phylogenetic analyses and genomic comparisons demonstrated the existence of a large, diverse, and widespread superfamily of T4-like phages in the environment. We report here on the T4-like major capsid protein (MCP) sequences that were obtained by targeted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of marine environmental samples. This analysis was then expanded to include 1,000s of new sequences of T4-like capsid genes from the metagenomic data obtained during the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) expedition. This data compilation reveals that the diversity of the major and minor capsid proteins from the GOS metagenome follows the same general patterns as the sequences from cultured phage genomes. Interestingly, the new MCP sequences obtained by PCR targeted to MCP sequences in environmental samples are more divergent (deeper branching) than the vast majority of the MCP sequences coming from the other sources. The marine T4-like phage population appears to be largely dominated by the T4-like cyanophages. Using ~1,400 T4-like MCP sequences from various sources, we mapped the degree of sequence conservation on a structural model of the T4-like MCP. The results indicate that within the T4 superfamily there are some clear phylogenetic groups with regard to the more conserved and more variable domains of the MCP. Such differences can be correlated with variations in capsid morphology, the arrangement of the MCP lattice, and the presence of different capsid accessory proteins between the subgroups of the T4 superfamily.

Key Words: bacteriophage T4 • major capsid protein • evolution • structure • diversity • metagenomics

Hervé Philippe, Associate Editor


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.