Genomics of Staphylococcal Twort-like Phages - Potential Therapeutics of the Post-Antibiotic Era

Polyvalent bacteriophages of the genus Twort-like that infect clinically relevant Staphylococcus strains may be among the most promising phages with potential therapeutic applications. They are obligatorily lytic, infect the majority of Staphylococcus strains in clinical strain collections, propagate efficiently and do not transfer foreign DNA by transduction. Comparative genomic analysis of 11 S. aureus/S. epidermidis Twort-like phages, as presented in this chapter, emphasizes their strikingly high similarity and clear divergence from phage Twort of the same genus, which might have evolved in hosts of a different species group. Genetically, these phages form a relatively isolated group, which minimizes the risk of acquiring potentially harmful genes. The order of genes in core parts of their 127 to 140-kb genomes is conserved and resembles that found in related representatives of the Spounavirinae subfamily of myoviruses. Functions of certain conserved genes can be predicted based on their homology to prototypical genes of model spounavirus SPO1. Deletions in the genomes of certain phages mark genes that are dispensable for phage development. Nearly half of the genes of these phages have no known homologues. Unique genes are mostly located near termini of the virion DNA molecule and are expressed early in phage development as implied by analysis of their potential transcriptional signals. Thus, many of them are likely to play a role in host takeover. Single genes encode homologues of bacterial virulence-associated proteins. They were apparently acquired by a common ancestor of these phages by horizontal gene transfer but presumably evolved towards gaining functions that increase phage infectivity for bacteria or facilitate mature phage release. Major differences between the genomes of S. aureus/S. epidermidis Twort-like phages consist of single nucleotide polymorphisms and insertions/deletions of short stretches of nucleotides, single genes, or introns of group I. Although the number and location of introns may vary between particular phages, intron shuffling is unlikely to be a major factor responsible for specificity differences.