Three novel Erwinia billingiae phages isolated from organic waste represent three new genera

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Despite the ecological significance of viral communities, phages remain insufficiently studied. Current genomic databases lack high-quality phage genome sequences linked to specific bacteria. Bacteria of the genus Erwinia are known to colonize the phyllosphere of plants, both as commensals and as pathogens. We isolated three Erwinia billingiae phages-Zoomie, Pecta, and Snitter-from organic household waste. Based on sequence similarity to their closest relatives, we propose that they represent three new genera: "Pectavirus" within the family Zobellviridae, "Snittervirus" in the subfamily Tempevirinae, family Drexlerviridae, and "Zoomievirus" within the family Autographiviridae, which, together with the genus Limelightvirus, may constitute a new subfamily.

Original languageEnglish
Article number71
JournalArchives of Virology
Volume168
Number of pages7
ISSN0304-8608
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

    Research areas

  • Bacteriophages/genetics, Genome, Viral, Erwinia/genetics

ID: 333433363