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Microbiology 146 (2000), 1651-1660
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Microbiology (2000), 146, 1651-1660.
© 2000 Society for General Microbiology

Pathogenicity and Medical Microbiology

Microvirus of Chlamydia psittaci strain Guinea pig Inclusion Conjunctivitis: isolation and molecular characterization

Ru-ching Hsia1, Li-Min Ting2 and Patrik M. Bavoil1

Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK1
Department of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, Box 0868, San Francisco,CA 94143-0868, USA2

Author for correspondence: Ru-ching Hsia. Tel: +44 20 7927 2290. Fax: +44 20 7612 7871. e-mail: r.hsia{at}lshtm.ac.uk

The authors report the isolation and molecular characterization of a bacteriophage, {phi}CPG1, which infects Chlamydia psittaci strain Guinea pig Inclusion Conjunctivitis. Purified virion preparations contained isometric particles of 25 nm diameter, superficially similar to spike-less members of the {phi}X174 family of bacteriophages. The single-stranded circular DNA genome of {phi}CPG1 included five large ORFs, which were similar to ORFs in the genome of a previously described Chlamydia bacteriophage (Chp1) that infects avian C. psittaci. Three of the ORFs encoded polypeptides that were similar to those in a phage infecting the mollicute Spiroplasma melliferum, a pathogen of honeybees. Lesser sequence similarities were seen between two ORF products and the major capsid protein of the {phi}X174 coliphage family and proteins mediating rolling circle replication initiation in phages, phagemids and plasmids. Phage {phi}CPG1 is the second member of the genus Chlamydiamicrovirus, the first to infect a member of a Chlamydia species infecting mammals. Similarity searches of the nucleotide sequence further revealed a highly conserved (75% identity) 375 base sequence integrated into the genome of the human pathogen Chlamydia pneumoniae. This genomic segment encodes a truncated 113 residue polypeptide, the sequence of which is 72% identical to the amino-terminal end of the putative replication initiation protein of {phi}CPG1. This finding suggests that C. pneumoniae has been infected by a phage related to {phi}CPG1 and that infection resulted in integration of some of the phage genome into the C. pneumoniae genome.

Keywords: Chlamydia, bacteriophage, capsid protein, Rep protein

Abbreviations: EB, elementary body; GPIC, Guinea Pig Inclusion Conjunctivitis; MOMP, major outer-membrane protein; RB, reticulate body; RCR, rolling circle replication; Rep, replication initiation protein

The GenBank accession number for the sequence reported in this paper is U41758.




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