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Ecological Approach to Understanding Superinfection Inhibition in Bacteriophage

Authors :
Karin R. H. Biggs
Clayton L. Bailes
LuAnn Scott
Holly A. Wichman
Elissa J. Schwartz
Source :
Viruses, Vol 13, Iss 7, p 1389 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

In microbial communities, viruses compete with each other for host cells to infect. As a consequence of competition for hosts, viruses evolve inhibitory mechanisms to suppress their competitors. One such mechanism is superinfection exclusion, in which a preexisting viral infection prevents a secondary infection. The bacteriophage ΦX174 exhibits a potential superinfection inhibition mechanism (in which secondary infections are either blocked or resisted) known as the reduction effect. In this auto-inhibitory phenomenon, a plasmid containing a fragment of the ΦX174 genome confers resistance to infection among cells that were once permissive to ΦX174. Taking advantage of this plasmid system, we examine the inhibitory properties of the ΦX174 reduction effect on a range of wild ΦX174-like phages. We then assess how closely the reduction effect in the plasmid system mimics natural superinfection inhibition by carrying out phage–phage competitions in continuous culture, and we evaluate whether the overall competitive advantage can be predicted by phage fitness or by a combination of fitness and reduction effect inhibition. Our results show that viral fitness often correctly predicts the winner. However, a phage’s reduction sequence also provides an advantage to the phage in some cases, modulating phage–phage competition and allowing for persistence where competitive exclusion was expected. These findings provide strong evidence for more complex dynamics than were previously thought, in which the reduction effect may inhibit fast-growing viruses, thereby helping to facilitate coexistence.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19994915
Volume :
13
Issue :
7
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Viruses
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.0f24b3963b0a4296b243a41077c8ab39
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/v13071389