Comparative analysis of the mitochondrial genome of the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, the causal agent of anthracnose in common beans

Fungi of the genus Colletotrichum are economically important and are used as models in plant-pathogen interaction studies. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genomes of two Colletotrichum lindemuthianum isolates were sequenced and compared with the mitochondrial genomes of seven species of Colletotrichum. The mitochondrial genome of C. lindemuthianum is a typical circular molecule 37,446 bp (isolate 89 A₂ 2-3) and 37,440 bp (isolate 83.501) in length. The difference of six nucleotides between the two genomes is the result of a deletion in the ribosomal protein S3 (rps3) gene in the 83.501 isolate. In addition, substitution of adenine for guanine within the rps3 gene in the mitochondrial genome of the 83.501 isolate was observed. Compared to the previously sequenced C. lindemuthianum mitochondrial genome, an exon no annotated in the cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) gene and a non-conserved open reading frame (ncORF) were observed. The size of the mitochondrial genomes of the seven species of Colletotrichum was highly variable, being attributed mainly to the ncORF, ranging from one to 10 and also from introns ranging from one to 11 and which encode a total of up to nine homing endonucleases. This paper reports for the first time by means of transcriptome that then ncORFs are transcribed in Colletotrichum spp. Phylogeny data revealed that core mitochondrial genes could be used as an alternative in phylogenetic relationship studies in Colletotrichum spp. This work contributes to the genetic and biological knowledge of Colletotrichum spp., which is of great economic and scientific importance.

Genome characterization of a novel vibriophage VpKK5 (Siphoviridae) specific to fish pathogenic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus has long been known pathogenic to shrimp but only recently it is also reported pathogenic to tropical cultured marine finfish. Traditionally, bacterial diseases in aquaculture are often treated using synthetic antibiotics but concern due to side effects of these chemicals is elevating hence, new control strategies which are both environmental and consumer friendly, are urgently needed. One promising control strategy is the bacteriophage therapy. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of a novel vibriophage (VpKK5), belonging to the family Siphoviridae that was specific and capable of complete lysing the fish pathogenic strain of V. parahaemolyticus. The VpKK5 exhibited short eclipse and latent periods of 24 and 36 min, respectively, but with a large burst size of 180 pfu/cell. The genome analysis revealed that the VpKK5 is a novel bacteriophage with the estimated genome size of 56,637 bp and has 53.1% G + C content. The vibriophage has about 80 predicted open reading frames consisted of 37 complete coding sequences which did not match to any protein databases. The analysis also found no lysogeny and virulence genes in the genome of VpKK5. With such genome features, we suspected the vibriophage is novel and could be explored for phage therapy against fish pathogenic strains of V. parahaemolyticus in the near future.

Complete genome sequence of virulence-enhancing Siphophage VHS1 from Vibrio harveyi

Vibrio harveyi siphophage 1 (VHS1) is a tailed phage with an icosahedral head of approximately 66 nm in diameter and an unornamented, flexible tail of approximately 153 nm in length. When Vibrio harveyi 1114GL is lysogenized with VHS1, its virulence for the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) increases by more than 100 times, and this coincides with production of a toxin(s) associated with shrimp hemocyte agglutination. Curiously, the lysogen does not show increased virulence for the whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus [Litopenaeus] vannamei). Here we present and annotate the complete, circular genome of VHS1 (81,509 kbp; GenBank accession number JF713456). By software analysis, the genome contains 125 putative open reading frames (ORFs), all of which appear to be located on the same DNA strand, similar to the case for many other bacteriophages. Most of the putative ORFs show no significant homology to known sequences in GenBank. Notable exceptions are ORFs for a putative DNA polymerase and putative phage structural proteins, including a portal protein, a phage tail tape measure protein, and a phage head protein. The last protein was identified as a component of the species-specific toxin mixture described above as being associated with agglutination of hemocytes from P. monodon.