Comparative genomic analysis of Lactococcus garvieae phage WP-2, a new member of Picovirinae subfamily of Podoviridae

•Characterization of Lactococcus garvieae phage WP-2, a new member of Picovirinae subfamily•Complete sequencing and comparative analysis of the phage WP-2 genome•Bioinformatic analysis of the predicted open reading frames of phage WP-2•Phylogenetic analysis of phage WP-2

To date, a few numbers of bacteriophages that infect Lactococcus garvieae have been identified, but their complete genome sequences have not yet been investigated. For the first time, herein, the complete DNA sequence of a new phage of L. garvieae (phage WP-2) is reported and analyzed. The morphological characteristics indicated that the phage had a small isometric head along with a short and non-contractile tail, suggesting that WP-2 belongs to the family Podoviridae. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that phage WP-2 can be classified as a new member of Ahjdlikevirus in the Picovirinae subfamily because it had a small dsDNA of 18,899 bp with 24 open reading frames and a protein-primed DNA polymerase. The phage nucleotide sequence and predicted protein products have been identified to share very limited evidence of homology with complete genome and proteome of other phages. To our knowledge, this is the first Ahjdlikevirus bacteriophage which can infect a member of the Lactococcus genus.

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