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VEJ, a novel filamentous phage of Vibrio cholerae able of transducing the cholera toxin genes

National Center for Scientific Research

A novel filamentous bacteriophage, designated VEJ, was isolated from the strain MO45 of Vibrio cholerae of the O139 serogroup. A molecular characterization of the phage was carried out, which included the sequencing of its whole genome, the study of the genomic structure, the identification of the phage receptor, as well as the determination of the function of some genes, such as those encoding the major capsid protein and the single-stranded DNA binding proein. The genome nucleotide sequence of VEJ, which consists of 6842 bp, revealed that it is organized in modules of functionally related genes in an array which is characteristic of the genus inovirus (filamentous phages). VEJ is closely related with other previously described filamentous phages of V. cholerae, including VGJ, VSK and fs1. Like these phages, VEJ uses as a cellular receptor the type IV pilus called mannose sensitive hemagglutinin (MSHA). It was also demonstrated that VEJ, like the phage VGJ, is able to transmit the genome of the phage CTX horizontally among bacterial populations of V. cholerae expressing the MSHA receptor fimbria and therefore the genes encoding the cholera toxin (CT). This suggests that the variety of phages implicated in the horizontal transmission of the CT genes could be more diverse than formerly thought.

¹ E-mail: javier.campos{at}cnic.edu.cu