Isolation and Complete Genome Sequence of a Novel Cyanophage S-B68.

Cyanophages, which play a significant role in food web and global biochemical cycle, are one of the main causes of microbial death in aquatic environment. A novel cyanophage S-B68 was isolated from the surface water of the Bohai Sea, northern China. It can infect marine Synechococcus sp. (strain WH7803). The transmission electron microscopy results demonstrate that this cyanophage has an icosahedral head (51 nm in diameter) and a long tail (110 nm in length) and belongs to family Siphophages. The complete genome sequence of cyanophage S-B68 contains a linear, double-stranded 163,982 bp DNA molecule with a 51.7% G+C content. Except for four tRNAs, the genome contains 229 open reading frames (ORFs) which were grouped into six functional modules as follows: structure, hypothetical protein, DNA replication and expression, lysis, packaging, and some additional functions. It was found in one-step growth curve that the latent period of the S-B68 was about 49 h after infection with Synechococcus, and then it entered the rising period, and tended to stable after 61 h. Using the BLASTN tool in the NCBI database for genome comparison, there was no significant similarity between S-B68 and other known cyanophages. Present study adds a novel Siphoviridae genome to marine cyanophage dataset and provides useful basic information for its further research.