Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: Summary The prototypic crAssphage ( Carjivirus communis ) is one of the most abundant, prevalent, and persistent gut bacteriophages, yet it remains uncultured and its lifestyle uncharacterized. For the last decade, crAssphage has escaped plaque-dependent culturing efforts, leading us to investigate alternative lifestyles that might explain its widespread success. Through genomic analyses and culturing, we find that crAssphage uses a phage-plasmid lifestyle to persist extrachromosomally. Plasmid-related genes are more highly expressed than those implicated in phage maintenance. Leveraging this finding, we use a plaque-free culturing approach to measure crAssphage replication in culture with Phocaeicola vulgatus, Phocaeicola dorei, and Bacteroides stercoris , revealing a broad host range. We demonstrate that crAssphage persists with its hosts in culture without causing major cell lysis events or integrating into host chromosomes. The ability to switch between phage and plasmid lifestyles within a wide range of hosts contributes to the prolific nature of crAssphage in the human gut microbiome.
Institutions: Stanford Medicine, Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Therapeutic phage host-range prediction using proximity-guided metagenomics and artificial intelligence, G2911450482, Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Program, G4778220298, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), A method for the culture-free discovery and host affiliation of novel viruses from metagenomic samples, G9000066904, G9000124290, G9000148401
OpenAlex ID: W4393049606