Staphylococcus aureus Prophage-Encoded Protein Causes Abortive Infection and Provides Population Immunity against Kayviruses
Lucie Kuntová, Ivana Mašlaňová, Radka Obořilová, Hana Šimečková, Adéla Finstrlová, Pavol Bárdy, Marta Šiborová, Liudmyla Troianovska, Tibor Botka, Petr Gintar, Ondřej Šedo, Zdeněk Farka, Jiřı́ Doškař, Roman Pantůček
Abstract
Prophages play an important role in virulence, pathogenesis, and host preference, as well as in horizontal gene transfer in staphylococci. In contrast, broad-host-range lytic staphylococcal kayviruses lyse most S. aureus strains, and scientists worldwide have come to believe that the use of such phages will be successful for treating and preventing bacterial diseases. The effectiveness of phage therapy is complicated by bacterial resistance, whose mechanisms related to therapeutic staphylococcal phages are not understood in detail. In this work, we describe a resistance mechanism targeting kayviruses that is encoded by a prophage. We conclude that the defense mechanism belongs to a broader group of abortive infections, which is characterized by suicidal behavior of infected cells that are unable to produce phage progeny, thus ensuring the survival of the host population. Since the majority of staphylococcal strains are lysogenic, our findings are relevant for the advancement of phage therapy.