Temperate Phages of potentially pathogenic Vibrio species from the North Sea
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Temperate phages are important players in genetic diversification of their bacterial host by transforming their genomes by transduction. During this process, the phage forms a stable interaction with its host. The integrated phage genome replicates along with the host until the lytic cycle is induced. Phages may contribute to emergence of disease-causing strains from environmental Vibrio species by transference of mobile genetic elements. However, the potential of transferring pathogenic genes due in the marine environments to temperate phages is far less understood. Thus, potentially pathogenic Vibrio species from the North Sea were subjected to phage induction to gather information on the vibriophage related genepool. During the research cruise 39 potentially pathogenic Vibrio strains from the coastal waters were isolated from stations near the coastline. Temperate phages were successfully induced from 18 potentially pathogenic Vibrio isolates. In detail, 14 correspond to V. parahaemolyticus, 3 to V. vulnificus and 1 to V. cholerae. All inducible prophages were found in Vibrio strains from coastal stations of Germany and the Netherlands. The induced phage samples presented inhibitory activity against half of the tested Vibrio strains, mostly environmental isolates from North and Baltic Sea. As conclusion, about 46% of Vibrio isolates possess inducible temperate phages, all of them isolated from coastal waters. These phages might play a role in transference of pathogenic genes into the environment. This will be subject of further studies. The present work shows the first insights of temperate phages presence on potential pathogenic Vibrio strains from Northern European seawaters.
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