Effect of environmental conditions on two vibriophages and their host
- 1Instituto de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso , ,
- 2Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C , ,
Abstract
Bacteriophages play a key role in regulating Vibrio populations in marine environments, and environmental conditions may influence their replication and interactions with bacterial hosts. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the bacteriophage PvVp2, which infects the pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain KX, and to compare its environmental performance with that of phage CHOED, a lytic phage infecting Vibrio anguillarum . Phage PvVp2 possesses a 43,158 bp double-stranded DNA genome encoding a MazG-like pyrophosphatase, a putative auxiliary metabolic gene. Phylogenetic analysis clustered PvVp2 with vibriophages vB_Vc_SrVc2 and vB_Vc_SrVc9, sharing nearly 100% nucleotide identity. To evaluate the effect of environmental conditions on phage–host interactions, the replication of both phages was assessed under different temperatures, pH values and salinities. Performance curves showed that V. parahaemolyticus and PvVp2 were adapted to warmer conditions than V. anguillarum and CHOED, respectively. PvVp2 replicated efficiently between 22 °C and 40 °C, whereas CHOED replication was restricted to 14 °C–30 °C. Both phages replicated over narrower ranges of environmental conditions than their bacterial hosts, and deviations from optimal conditions increased latent periods and reduced burst sizes. Infection assays further showed that CHOED displayed greater lytic activity at 14 and 25 °C, whereas PvVp2 exhibited a lower but relatively stable lytic activity across the temperatures evaluated. These findings demonstrate that temperature, pH and salinity strongly influence phage replication and phage–host interactions, highlighting that the environmental range supporting phage replication is generally narrower than that supporting bacterial growth.
Related
- Anti-defense systems of viral communitie vary with genomic traits, host immunity and environmental stress
- Host and Environmental Factors Outweigh Pathogen in Shaping Skin Microbiome of a Threatened Andean Amphibian Community
- Interactions Vibrio-hôte De la niche environnementale à la virulence / Vibrio-host interactions: from the environmental niche to virulence (interview de G. Charrière)
- Urban habitats offer buffered environmental conditions for city-dwelling bats
- Planting set-up and local environmental conditions affect outcomes in tropical agricultural restoration
BibTeX
@article{leon2026effect,
title = {{Effect of environmental conditions on two vibriophages and their host}},
author = {Marcela León and Neri Vargas and Kívely Lozano and Santiago Gacitúa and Carlos Omar Lomelí-Ortega and Irais Ramírez-Sánchez and Eduardo Quiroz-Guzmán and Roberto Bastías},
journal = {Frontiers in microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1914226},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13671069},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Effect of environmental conditions on two vibriophages and their host
AU - Marcela León
AU - Neri Vargas
AU - Kívely Lozano
AU - Santiago Gacitúa
AU - Carlos Omar Lomelí-Ortega
AU - Irais Ramírez-Sánchez
AU - Eduardo Quiroz-Guzmán
AU - Roberto Bastías
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Frontiers in microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1914226
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13671069
AB - Bacteriophages play a key role in regulating Vibrio populations in marine environments, and environmental conditions may influence their replication and interactions with bacterial hosts. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the bacteriophage PvVp2, which infects the pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain KX, and to compare its environmental performance with that of phage CHOED, a lytic phage infecting Vibrio anguillarum . Phage PvVp2 possesses a 43,158 bp double-stranded DNA genome encoding a MazG-like pyrophosphatase, a putative auxiliary metabolic gene. Phylogenetic analysis clustered PvVp2 with vibriophages vB_Vc_SrVc2 and vB_Vc_SrVc9, sharing nearly 100% nucleotide identity. To evaluate the effect of environmental conditions on phage–host interactions, the replication of both phages was assessed under different temperatures, pH values and salinities. Performance curves showed that V. parahaemolyticus and PvVp2 were adapted to warmer conditions than V. anguillarum and CHOED, respectively. PvVp2 replicated efficiently between 22 °C and 40 °C, whereas CHOED replication was restricted to 14 °C–30 °C. Both phages replicated over narrower ranges of environmental conditions than their bacterial hosts, and deviations from optimal conditions increased latent periods and reduced burst sizes. Infection assays further showed that CHOED displayed greater lytic activity at 14 and 25 °C, whereas PvVp2 exhibited a lower but relatively stable lytic activity across the temperatures evaluated. These findings demonstrate that temperature, pH and salinity strongly influence phage replication and phage–host interactions, highlighting that the environmental range supporting phage replication is generally narrower than that supporting bacterial growth.
SN - 1664-302X
ER -