axonopodis pv. citri 306 used the same sequence (GenBank:XAC2627) as that of X. oryzae pv. oryzae PXO99A prophage for integration, except that only attL was retained (Figure 3, and Additional file 7: Table S4). All identified attB sites for Xanthomonas are also located near one o’clock on the bacterial chromosomes. Host integration of P2-like

phages involves binding of integrase to the two arm-binding sites flanking the imperfect repeat, each having two direct selleck repeats [45]. Careful examination of the Smp131 sequence revealed a pair of perfect direct repeats (5′-AATTTTACCGG-3′, bp 30635–30645 and bp 30647–30657) and an inverted repeat (5′-AAAAAGGCCAGCGCACCGCGCTGGCCTTTTT-3′, bp 30665–30695) in the upstream of attP (after the integrase gene, orf43), but no such sequences were found between attP and orf44. By analogy, it is possible that these repeats are involved in recognition by Smp131 integrase for host integration. However, PRN1371 in vivo lack of conserved repeats in the downstream suggests that the Smp131 integrase may be less demanding for sequence conservation in the downstream region for the function. Conclusions This study is the first to isolate a temperate phage of S. maltophilia, Smp131. It is identified as a P2-like phage based on similarities to P2 in amino acid sequences of the encoded proteins, genomic organization, arrangement of several operons, and possession of a slippery sequence T7G for translational

frameshifting in tail assembly genes. Smp131 is able to infect only S. maltophilia, different from phage P2 that can infect several enteric bacterial species. Neratinib mw Several P2-like prophages in S. maltophilia and xanthomonads are also identified by bioinformatic analyses. In contrast to P2 that can integrate into several loci of the host chromosome, with certain loci being favoured and none of them being t-RNA gene, single t-RNA genes are found to be the locus for integration of these Stenotrophomonas and xanthomonads prophages. In addition, the regions flanking the prophages are rich in transposase-like genes,

suggesting frequent exchange of genes during evolution. Existence of closely related prophages in Stenotrophomonas and xanthomonads is consistent with the close relatedness of these bacteria and the previous classification including Stenotrophomonas in genus Xanthomonas. Prevalence of the phages may have contributed to diversity of these closely related species owing to possible horizontal gene transfer mediated by the phages. With a narrow host range, the value to use Smp131 for controlling S. maltophilia infection is apparently limited. Methods Bacterial Seliciclib price strains and growth conditions Bacterial strains used in this study have been described previously [4]. S. maltophilia strains ATCC13637, BCRC 11901 and BCRC 15678 were used as reference strains [4]. Strain T16 was the host for propagation of phage Smp131 and as the indicator host in plaque assay.