Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-11-2020

Publication Title

PLoS ONE

Volume

15

Issue

6

Publisher Name

PLOS

Abstract

Bacteriophages (phages) play a key role in shaping microbial communities, including those of the human body. Phages are abundant members of the urogenital tract, most often persisting through the lysogenic life cycle as prophages integrated within the genomes of their bacterial hosts. While numerous studies of the urogenital microbiota have focused on the most abundant bacterial member of this niche–Lactobacillus species–very little is known about Lactobacillus phages. Focusing on Lactobacillus jensenii strains from the urinary tract, we identified numerous prophages related to the previously characterized Lv-1 phage from a vaginal L. jensenii strain. Furthermore, we identified a new L. jensenii phage, Lu-1. Evidence suggests that both phages are abundant within the urogenital tract. CRISPR spacer sequences matching to Lv-1 and Lu-1 prophages were identified. While first detected in urinary isolates, the Lu-1 phage was also discovered in L. jensenii isolates from vaginal and perineal swabs, and both phages were found in metagenomic data sets. The prevalence of these phages in the isolates suggests that both phages are active members of the urogenital microbiota.

Comments

Author Posting. © Miller-Ensminger et al., 2020. This article is posted here by permission of the authors for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in PLoS ONE, Volume 55, Issue 6, June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234159

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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