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Bacteriophages of phytopathogenic and commercial strains of enterobacteria: chracteristics of the virus-host interactions, phage genomics and virion morphogenesis


Work number - M 28 AWARDED

Authors: Kushkina A. I.,Korol N. A.,Faidiuk I. V.,Zhuminska G. I.

PresentedbytheD. K. ZabolotnyyInstitute of Microbiology and Virology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

 

The studies provide the scientific basis for the use of bacteriophages of phytopathogenic and commercial strains of enterobacteria for development of biodetection systems for phytopathogenic bacteria and DNA-damaging agents in the pectin-containing agricultural products. The background for the screening of bacteriophages for their polyvalence was developed, the potential of the phages as the components of therapeutic phage mixes was estimated and the conditions for the use of phage particle components in nanobiotechnology were created in the course of work.

Important fundamental results concerning the lysogenic cycle, the functional stateof the prophageand the lysogenic conversionof phytopathogenic pectobacteriaby thetemperate phage ZF40were obtained. Its virionstructurewas studied in detail and a full genome map of the viral DNA was generated.The phage ZF40 proteome was characterized and the major structural genes were assigned with functions. The authors determined the factors involved in expanding the host range and the formation polyvalence of the phage FE44; described phage populations and isolated bacteriophages of microbial communities that cause fire blight to fruit trees. The phage population structure was established and the cause of phage lysis of the biotechnological strain of E. coli was identified. Complete genomes of three phages: ZF40, FE44 and Lw1 were sequenced and their nucleotide sequences were annotated within the current research.

The seriesof scientific works contains priority results in bacteriophage genomics, proteomics and taxonomy.It proposes new approaches regarding the storage of unstable bacteriophages, the concentration and separation of individual components of phage virions, the research and identification of the unique structural genes of bacteriophages and methods for isolation of new bacterial viruses.

The authors bring up new and unconventional questions about the cross-species and intra-species studies of heterogeneity of the viral populations, the identification of genes with unknown functions and the polyvalent properties of bacteriophages.

The series of works include 72 of those. Among them there are: 1 article in a monograph, 29 scientific articles, 23 of which were published in journals referenced in the Scopus database. The total citation according to Scopus index is 1. The authors’ works are cited in more than 30 scientific and applied scientific journals (the total number of citations in Scopus - 16).