Diversity of bacteriophages infecting chemolithoautotrophs in hydrothermal ecosystems

本研究的主要目的是揭示深海热液喷口生态系统中化学化石自养生物与其噬菌体之间的相互作用。我们分离了一种新的温带噬菌体，该噬菌体感染了深海喷口的Epsilonproteobacteria的化能石自养分离物，并获得了其全基因组序列并进行了分析。噬菌体基因在多种Epsilonproteobacteria中的广泛存在，支持了温带噬菌体和Epsilonproteobacteria在栖息地分化和生理适应之前的早期共同进化。

This main objective of this study is to reveal the interaction between chemolithoautotrophs and their phages in deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems. We isolated a novel temperate phage that infected a deep-sea vent chemolithoautotrophic isolate of Epsilonproteobacteria, and its entire genome sequence was obtained and analyzed. The widespread occurrence of phage genes in diverse Epsilonproteobacteria supports early co-evolution between temperate phages and Epsilonproteobacteria prior to the divergence of their habitats and physiological adaptation.