This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Emond, E.
Right arrow Articles by Moineau, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Emond, E.
Right arrow Articles by Moineau, S.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Emond, E.
Right arrow Articles by Moineau, S.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4748-4756, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

AbiQ, an Abortive Infection Mechanism from Lactococcus lactis

Eric Emond,1,dagger Eric Dion,1 Shirley A. Walker,2,Dagger Ebenezer R. Vedamuthu,2 Jeffery K. Kondo,2 and Sylvain Moineau1,*

Department of Biochemistry and Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4 Canada,1 and Bioproducts Group, Quest International, Rochester, Minnesota 559012

Received 16 July 1998/Accepted 25 September 1998

Lactococcus lactis W-37 is highly resistant to phage infection. The cryptic plasmids from this strain were coelectroporated, along with the shuttle vector pSA3, into the plasmid-free host L. lactis LM0230. In addition to pSA3, erythromycin- and phage-resistant isolates carried pSRQ900, an 11-kb plasmid from L. lactis W-37. This plasmid made the host bacteria highly resistant (efficiency of plaquing <10-8) to c2- and 936-like phages. pSRQ900 did not confer any resistance to phages of the P335 species. Adsorption, cell survival, and endonucleolytic activity assays showed that pSRQ900 encodes an abortive infection mechanism. The phage resistance mechanism is limited to a 2.2-kb EcoRV/BclI fragment. Sequence analysis of this fragment revealed a complete open reading frame (abiQ), which encodes a putative protein of 183 amino acids. A frameshift mutation within abiQ completely abolished the resistant phenotype. The predicted peptide has a high content of positively charged residues (pI = 10.5) and is, in all likelihood, a cytosolic protein. AbiQ has no homology to known or deduced proteins in the databases. DNA replication assays showed that phage c21 (c2-like) and phage p2 (936-like) can still replicate in cells harboring AbiQ. However, phage DNA accumulated in its concatenated form in the infected AbiQ+ cells, whereas the AbiQ- cells contained processed (mature) phage DNA in addition to the concatenated form. The production of the major capsid protein of phage c21 was not hindered in the cells harboring AbiQ.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Buccale (GREB), Faculté de Medecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Quebec G1K 7P4, Canada. Phone: (418) 656-3712. Fax: (418) 656-2861. E-mail: Sylvain.Moineau{at}bcm.ulaval.ca.

dagger Present address: Département des Sciences des Aliments et de Nutrition, Pavillon Paul-Comtois, Université Laval, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada.

Dagger Present address: Department of Food Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4748-4756, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Blower, T. R., Fineran, P. C., Johnson, M. J., Toth, I. K., Humphreys, D. P., Salmond, G. P. C. (2009). Mutagenesis and Functional Characterization of the RNA and Protein Components of the toxIN Abortive Infection and Toxin-Antitoxin Locus of Erwinia. J. Bacteriol. 191: 6029-6039 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Haaber, J., Moineau, S., Hammer, K. (2009). Activation and Transfer of the Chromosomal Phage Resistance Mechanism AbiV in Lactococcus lactis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 3358-3361 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Haaber, J., Rousseau, G. M., Hammer, K., Moineau, S. (2009). Identification and Characterization of the Phage Gene sav, Involved in Sensitivity to the Lactococcal Abortive Infection Mechanism AbiV. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 2484-2494 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fineran, P. C., Blower, T. R., Foulds, I. J., Humphreys, D. P., Lilley, K. S., Salmond, G. P. C. (2009). The phage abortive infection system, ToxIN, functions as a protein-RNA toxin-antitoxin pair. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 894-899 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Haaber, J., Moineau, S., Fortier, L.-C., Hammer, K. (2008). AbiV, a Novel Antiphage Abortive Infection Mechanism on the Chromosome of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris MG1363. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6528-6537 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Briandet, R., Lacroix-Gueu, P., Renault, M., Lecart, S., Meylheuc, T., Bidnenko, E., Steenkeste, K., Bellon-Fontaine, M.-N., Fontaine-Aupart, M.-P. (2008). Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy To Study Diffusion and Reaction of Bacteriophages inside Biofilms. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 2135-2143 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yang, J. M., DeUrraza, P. J., Matvienko, N., O'Sullivan, D. J. (2006). Involvement of the LlaKR2I Methylase in Expression of the AbiR Bacteriophage Defense System in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis KR2.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1920-1928 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Labrie, S., Bart, C., Vadeboncoeur, C., Moineau, S. (2005). Use of an {alpha}-Galactosidase Gene as a Food-Grade Selection Marker for Streptococcus thermophilus. J DAIRY SCI 88: 2341-2347 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sorvig, E., Skaugen, M., Naterstad, K., Eijsink, V. G. H., Axelsson, L. (2005). Plasmid p256 from Lactobacillus plantarum represents a new type of replicon in lactic acid bacteria, and contains a toxin-antitoxin-like plasmid maintenance system. Microbiology 151: 421-431 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Boucher, I., Parrot, M., Gaudreau, H., Champagne, C. P., Vadeboncoeur, C., Moineau, S. (2002). Novel Food-Grade Plasmid Vector Based on Melibiose Fermentation for the Genetic Engineering of Lactococcus lactis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 6152-6161 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bouchard, J. D., Dion, E., Bissonnette, F., Moineau, S. (2002). Characterization of the Two-Component Abortive Phage Infection Mechanism AbiT from Lactococcus lactis. J. Bacteriol. 184: 6325-6332 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hickey, R. M., Twomey, D. P., Ross, R. P., Hill, C. (2001). Exploitation of Plasmid pMRC01 To Direct Transfer of Mobilizable Plasmids into Commercial Lactococcal Starter Strains. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 2853-2858 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Émond, E., Lavallée, R., Drolet, G., Moineau, S., LaPointe, G. (2001). Molecular Characterization of a Theta Replication Plasmid and Its Use for Development of a Two-Component Food-Grade Cloning System for Lactococcus lactis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 1700-1709 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Twomey, D. P., De Urraza, P. J., McKay, L. L., O'Sullivan, D. J. (2000). Characterization of AbiR, a Novel Multicomponent Abortive Infection Mechanism Encoded by Plasmid pKR223 of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis KR2. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 2647-2651 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Boucher, I., Émond, E., Dion, E., Montpetit, D., Moineau, S. (2000). Microbiological and molecular impacts of AbiK on the lytic cycle of Lactococcus lactis phages of the 936 and P335 species. Microbiology 146: 445-453 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»