TY - JOUR T1 - First Description of a Temperate Bacteriophage (vB_FhiM_KIRK) of Francisella hispaniensis Strain 3523 AU - Köppen, Kristin AU - Prensa, Grisna I. AU - Rydzewski, Kerstin AU - Tlapák, Hana AU - Holland, Gudrun AU - Heuner, Klaus AB - Here we present the characterization of a Francisella bacteriophage (vB_FhiM_KIRK) including the morphology, the genome sequence and the induction of the prophage. The prophage sequence (FhaGI-1) has previously been identified in F. hispaniensis strain 3523. UV radiation induced the prophage to assemble phage particles consisting of an icosahedral head (~52 nm in diameter), a tail of up to 97 nm in length and a mean width of 9 nm. The double stranded genome of vB_FhiM_KIRK contains 51 open reading frames and is 34,259 bp in length. The genotypic and phylogenetic analysis indicated that this phage seems to belong to the Myoviridae family of bacteriophages. Under the conditions tested here, host cell (Francisella hispaniensis 3523) lysis activity of KIRK was very low, and the phage particles seem to be defective for infecting new bacterial cells. Nevertheless, recombinant KIRK DNA was able to integrate site-specifically into the genome of different Francisella species after DNA transformation. KW - Francisella hispaniensis KW - FhaGI-1 KW - prophage KW - KIRK KW - bacteriophage KW - Myoviridae KW - vB_FhiM_KIRK KW - 610 Medizin und Gesundheit PY - 2021 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut JO - Viruses VL - 13 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 19 DO - 10.3390/v13020327 ER -