Cyanophage N-1 is a myovirus

bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that Capsid, encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structu ...

that infects freshwater filamentous

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

of the ''

Nostoc ''Nostoc'', also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungi commonly known as witches' butter), and witch's jelly, is the most common genus of cyanobacteria found in a variety ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

. The virus was first isolated by Kenneth Adolph and Robert Haselkorn in 1971 in the US, from the

nitrogen-fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular dinitrogen () is converted into ammonia (). It occurs both biologically and abiological nitrogen fixation, abiologically in chemical industry, chemical industries. Biological nitrogen ...

cyanobacterium, ''

muscorum''. N-1 is closely related to cyanophage A-1, but only distantly to other

cyanophage Cyanophages are viruses that infect cyanobacteria, also known as Cyanophyta or blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria are a phylum of bacteria that obtain their energy through the process of photosynthesis. Although cyanobacteria metabolize photoautotro ...

s of freshwater or marine origin.

Structure

The virus has a polyhedral head with a diameter of around 61 nm. The contractile tail is 100 nm long, and is attached to the head via a tail capital. The neck region bears fibres. The mature virus particle contains at least 19 proteins.

Genome

The linear, double-stranded DNA

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

is 64,960 base pairs in length – only half the size of most phages with contractile tails, which typically fall in the range 161–231 kb. It has a

GC-content In molecular biology and genetics, GC-content (or guanine-cytosine content) is the percentage of nitrogenous bases in a DNA or RNA molecule that are either guanine (G) or cytosine (C). This measure indicates the proportion of G and C bases out of ...

of 35.4%. Of the 91

open reading frame In molecular biology, reading frames are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible reading frames ...

s (ORFs), only 33 show similarity to other known sequences. Remarkably, the genome of Cyanophage N1 encodes a functional

CRISPR CRISPR (; acronym of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. Each sequence within an individual prokaryotic CRISPR is d ...

array, which has been suggested to protect the host against infection by competing viruses.

Life cycle and interaction with the host

The optimal pH for viral adsorption to ''N. muscorum'' is 7.6–8.1. The rate of adsorption is reduced with increasing age of the host cells. The viral latent period is 7 hours, which is similar to cyanophages of the LPP-1 group. The burst size is 100

plaque-forming unit A plaque-forming unit (PFU) is a measure used in virology to describe the number of virus particles capable of forming plaques per unit volume. It is a proxy measurement rather than a measurement of the absolute quantity of particles: viral par ...

s per cell. Host

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

is required for the virus to replicate, with photosynthesis being required throughout the life cycle, rather than at any particular point. Viral replication is powered by

cyclic photophosphorylation In the process of photosynthesis, the phosphorylation of ADP to form ATP using the energy of sunlight is called photophosphorylation. Cyclic photophosphorylation occurs in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, driven by the main primary source of ...

and the use of

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

stores;

photosystem II Photosystem II (or water-plastoquinone oxidoreductase) is the first protein complex in the light-dependent reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. It is located in the thylakoid membrane of plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Within the photosystem ...

activity is not required. Cyanophage N-1 infection of ''N. muscorum'' is associated with several changes in the host's carbon and nitrogen metabolism, including an increase in

glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD or G6PDH) () is a cytosolic enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes the chemical reaction : Glucose 6-phosphate, D-glucose 6-phosphate + NADP+ + 6-Phosphogluconolactone, 6-phospho-D-glucono-1,5-lactone + NADPH ...

enzyme concentration and a decrease in

glutamine synthetase Glutamine synthetase (GS) () is an enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of glutamate and ammonia to form glutamine: Glutamate + ATP + NH3 → Glutamine + ADP + phosphate Glutamine synthetase uses ammonia produced by nitrate reduction ...

activity.Sarma 2012, p. 433

References

Sources * Calendar R. ''The Bacteriophages'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

; 2006) () * Sarma TA.'' Handbook of Cyanobacteria'' (

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information technol ...

; 2012) () {{Taxonbar, from=Q28402242 Myoviridae