Isolation and genomic analysis of a novel Pseudomonas phage from karst cave in China

Bacteriophages (phages) in extreme environments like karst caves remain largely unexplored. Here, we report vB_Psp_JHDO137a, a novel phage isolated from cave sediment infecting Pseudomonas sp. The 41,530-bp dsDNA genome places it within the genus Ghunavirus (family Autographiviridae). Notably, its genome lacks auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), in contrast to AMG-rich profiles reported in cave metagenomic surveys and underscoring the necessity of isolation-based approaches to complement environmental sequencing data.