The complete genome and comparative analysis of a new Tequintavirus: Salmonella phage Tennessee Salten

Abstract

The rise in multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria presents a major current challenge, highlighting the urgent need for alternatives and sustainable biocontrol strategies. Here, we report the genome analysis of a bacteriophage called Salmonella phage Tennessee Salten and attributed to a new Tequintavirus species. Salten was isolated following infection of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Tennessee (sequence type ST5018). Its genome is 109,999 bp in length and contains 220 predicted proteins on which 197 are CDS and 23 tRNAs. Compared to its closest known relative phage Escherichia phage HildyBeyeler - sharing 84.6% identity - Salten harbours 16 unique or highly divergent genes. Of these, 13 encode proteins with unknown function, one encodes for a putative adenine methyltransferase and two encode HNH homing endonucleases. Moreover, the Long Tail Fibre protein, whose structure was predicted based on that of phage T5, was highly divergent among the Tequintavirus genus.