Novel Podoviridae Family Bacteriophage Infecting Weissella cibaria Isolated from Kimchi

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe first complete genome sequence of a phage infectingWeissella cibaria(Weissella kimchii) is presented. The bacteriophage ϕYS61 was isolated from kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable dish. Bacteriophages are recognized as a serious problem in industrial fermentations; however, ϕYS61 differed from many virulent phages associated with food fermentations since it was difficult to propagate and was very susceptible to resistance development. Sequence analysis revealed that ϕYS61 resemblesPodoviridaeof the subfamilyPicovirinae. Within the subfamilyPicovirinae, the ϕ29-like phages have been extensively studied, and their terminal protein-primed DNA replication is well characterized. Our data strongly suggest that ϕYS61 also replicates by a protein-primed mechanism.Weissellaphage ϕYS61 is, however, markedly different from members of thePicovirinaewith respect to genome size and morphology.Picovirinaeare characterized by small (approximately 20-kb) genomes which contrasts with the 33,594-bp genome of ϕYS61. Based on electron microscopy analysis, ϕYS61 was classified as a member of thePodoviridaeof morphotype C2, similar to the ϕ29-like phages, but its capsid dimensions are significantly larger than those reported for these phages. The novelty of ϕYS61 was also emphasized by the low number of open reading frames (ORFs) showing significant similarity to database sequences. We propose that the bacteriophage ϕYS61 should represent a new subfamily within the familyPodoviridae.