Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-2019

Publication Title

Access Microbiology

Volume

1

Issue

1

Abstract

Bacteriophages (phages) are vital members of the human microbiota. They are abundant even within low biomass niches of the human body, including the lower urinary tract. While several prior studies have cultured bacteria from kidney stones, this is the first study to explore phages within the kidney stone microbiota. Here we report Dobby, a temperate phage isolated from a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultured from a kidney stone. Dobby is capable of lysing clinical P. aeruginosa strains within our collection from the urinary tract. Sequencing was performed producing a 37 152 bp genome that closely resembles the temperate P. aeruginosa phage φCTX, a member of the P2 phage group. Dobby does not, however, encode for the cytotoxin CTX. Dobby’s genome was queried against publicly available bacterial sequences identifying 44 other φCTX-like prophages. These prophages are integrated within the genomes of P. aeruginosa strains from a variety of environments, including strains isolated from urine samples and other niches of the human body. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the temperate φCTX phage species is widespread. With the isolation of Dobby, we now have evidence that phages are members of the kidney stone microbiota. Further investigation, however, is needed to determine their abundance and diversity within these communities.

Comments

Author Posting © The Authors, 2019.This is an Open Access article published by the Microbiology Society under the Creative Commons Attribution License. The article was published in Access Microbiology, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2019, https://doi.org/10.1099/acmi.0.000002

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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