Analysis of the Complete Nucleotide Sequence of Chp1, a Phage which Infects Avian Chlamydia psittaci

• Published in: Journal of general virology Vol. 70; no. 12; pp. 3381 - 3390
• Main Authors: Storey, Christopher C, Lusher, Meryl, Richmond, Shirley J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.12.1989; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Bacteriophages - genetics; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Chlamydia psittaci; Chlamydophila psittaci; Cloning, Molecular; DNA, Viral - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Viral Proteins - genetics; Virology; Genome organization; Chlamydiaceae; Nucleotide sequence; Chlamydia psittaci; Homology; Open reading frame; Virus; Proteins; DNA; Chlamydiales; Microviridae; Bacteria; Genome; Nucleic acid; Aminoacid sequence; Phage
• ISSN: 0022-1317; 1465-2099
• DOI: 10.1099/0022-1317-70-12-3381

Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical School, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, U.K. We report the complete nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage Chp1. The genome was found to be 4877 bases long and it potentially codes for 11 proteins. Open reading frames (ORFs) 6 and 7 lie within ORFs 2 and 1 respectively but are in a second reading frame. No significant DNA homology was found when Chp1 was compared to the EMBL database. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the three structural proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3 were determined and it was found that they were encoded by ORFs 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Amino acid homology studies revealed that VP1 has homology with the major structural protein of bacteriophages øX174 and S13, and that the protein inferred from ORF4 shows homology to the A proteins of øX174, S13 and G4. The genome of Chp1 has an organization similar to that of øX174 although it is 509 bases smaller. We propose that Chp1 is a member of the Microviridae but that it is sufficiently different to warrant its own subfamily which we have called the Chlamydiavirinae . Keywords: phage, Chlamydia psittaci , nucleotide sequence Received 26 June 1989; accepted 29 August 1989.