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YpfΦ: a filamentous phage acquired by Yersinia pestis

Anne Derbise1, Elisabeth Carniel1

  • 1Yersinia Research Unit, Department of Microbiology, Institut Pasteur Paris, France.

Frontiers in Microbiology
|January 8, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Yersinia pestis, the plague bacterium, acquired a filamentous phage (YpfΦ) that integrated into its genome. This phage likely enhanced the bacterium's virulence and survival during the third plague pandemic.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus, exhibits high pathogenicity in humans.
  • Y. pestis recently evolved from Y. pseudotuberculosis approximately 3,000 years ago.
  • The filamentous phage YpfΦ infected Y. pestis early in its evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role and evolution of the YpfΦ phage in Y. pestis.
  • To understand the genetic characteristics and integration of YpfΦ.
  • To explore the selective advantages conferred by YpfΦ during infection.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative genomic analysis of YpfΦ with other phages.
  • Tracing the evolutionary history of YpfΦ within Y. pestis lineages.
  • Investigating the integration of YpfΦ as a prophage in pandemic strains.

Main Results:

  • YpfΦ initially existed as an unstable extrachromosomal element.
  • YpfΦ integrated into the Y. pestis chromosome, becoming a stable prophage in the lineage causing the third plague pandemic.
  • The YpfΦ genome shares similarities with other filamentous phages (e.g., CTXΦ, CUS-1) and contains uncharacterized open reading frames.

Conclusions:

  • The integration of YpfΦ as a stable prophage likely contributed to the success of Y. pestis during the third plague pandemic.
  • YpfΦ confers selective advantages to Y. pestis, explaining its conservation despite instability in earlier lineages.
Keywords:
Yersinia pestisfilamentous bacteriophageplague

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