Isolation and characterization of TayeBlu, a novel bacteriophage of Azotobacter vinelandii

Abstract

Understanding the forces regulating soil microbial activity is critical for building accurate ecosystem models that can inform land-management strategies for mitigating climate risks and stabilizing global food supply. For agricultural sustainability, it is particularly important to understand the dynamics of nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria like Azotobacter vinelandii , a well-studied and globally distributed species whose activity promotes plant growth and soil fertility. To support detailed investigations of the impact of viruses on diazotroph ecosystem outputs, we isolated and investigated a novel soil virus that infects A. vinelandii . The resulting new phage-host system expands the limited toolkit of model experimental systems for soil viral studies. By enabling investigations of viral impacts on terrestrial nitrogen-fixing bacteria, this work sets the stage for future studies illuminating a critical but poorly understood aspect of soil ecology. Moreover, TayeBlu belongs to a novel viral family, and this study provides the first description of this family’s conserved features.