Phage integration alters the respiratory strategy of its host

Abstract

Temperate bacteriophages are viruses that can incorporate their genomes into their bacterial hosts, existing there as prophages that refrain from killing the host cell until induced. Prophages are largely quiescent, but they can alter host phenotype through factors encoded in their genomes (often virulence factors) or by disrupting host genes as a result of integration. Here we describe another mechanism by which a prophage can modulate host phenotype. We show that a temperate phage that integrates in Escherichia coli reprograms host regulation of an anaerobic respiratory system, thereby inhibiting a bet hedging strategy. The phage exerts this effect by upregulating a host-encoded signal transduction protein through transcription initiated from a phage-encoded promoter. We further show that this phenomenon occurs not only in a laboratory strain of E. coli, but also in a natural isolate that contains a prophage at this site.