Genomic diversity of phages infecting the globally widespread genus Sulfurimonas

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Abstract The bacterial genus Sulfurimonas is globally widespread and occupies a key ecological niche in different habitats. However, phages infecting Sulfurimonas have never been isolated and characterized. Here we systematically investigated the genetic diversity, taxonomy and interaction patterns of Sulfurimonas-associated phages based on sequenced microbial genomes and metagenome datasets. High-confidence phage contigs related to Sulfurimonas were identified from various ecosystems, clustered into 61 viral operational taxonomic units across 3 viral realms. Most Sulfurimonas-associated phages were tailed viruses of Caudoviricetes; these were assigned to 19 genus-level viral clusters, the majority of which were distantly related to previously known viruses. Phages encoding double jelly-roll major capsid proteins represented another group of double-stranded DNA phage with diverse gene compositions. Inovirus-like single-stranded DNA phages were primarily identified as integrated prophages or extrachromosomal viral genomes, suggesting chronic infections in hosts. Historical and current phage-host interactions were revealed, implying the viral impact on host evolution. Additionally, phages encoding auxiliary metabolic genes might benefit the infected bacteria by compensating or augmenting host metabolisms. This study highlights the remarkable diversity and novelty of Sulfurimonas-associated phages with highly divergent tailless lineages, providing basis for further investigation of phage-host interactions within this genus.