Submitted by Nuzia Santos (nuzia@cpqrr.fiocruz.br) on 2016-10-19T12:25:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_BCM_AssmaaElKhal.pdf: 1644167 bytes, checksum: 7bb691d3e4aacbab44aea2489c898875 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Nuzia Santos (nuzia@cpqrr.fiocruz.br) on 2016-10-19T12:38:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_BCM_AssmaaElKhal.pdf: 1644167 bytes, checksum: 7bb691d3e4aacbab44aea2489c898875 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-19T12:38:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_BCM_AssmaaElKhal.pdf: 1644167 bytes, checksum: 7bb691d3e4aacbab44aea2489c898875 (MD5) / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil / O crescente surgimento de resistência bacteriana aos antibióticos convencionais é um grave problema que precisa ser enfrentado, seja pela descoberta de novas substâncias antimicrobianas, naturais ou sintéticas, ou através da pesquisa de terapias alternativas que sejam economicamente acessíveis. A terapia de fagos é uma dessas alternativas. Trata-se de uma forma de controle biológico, baseado em vírus específicos que infectam e destroem células bacterianas: os bacteriófagos. No entanto, esta é uma fonte terapêutica ainda pouco explorada. Esse trabalho utilizou o cultivo, isolamento e sequenciamento do genoma, além de técnicas de genômica de alto desempenho para isolar e caracterizar o genoma de bacteriófagos específicos para a linhagem enteroinvasiva de Escherichia coli ATCC 43893, visando o entendimento e a definição do ciclo de infecção desses vírus (líticos ou lisogênicos). A metodologia utilizada nessa pesquisa possibilitou o isolamento de 12 vírus. 8 diferentes linhagens virais tiveram seu material genético extraído e purificado, apresentando bom rendimento e quantidade reduzida de DNA bacteriano contaminante. O sequenciamento do genoma desses 8 vírus foi realizado usando a plataforma de nova geração MiSeq. Foi analisada a diversidade genética desses bacteriófagos e verificou-se que são vírus da ordem Caudovirales, sendo 2 da família Siphoviridae e 6 da família Myoviridae. Apenas um deles mostrou potencial de ter ciclo lisogênico, os outros sete vírus não continham nenhum gene que sugerisse isso. Entretanto, apesar dos bacteriófagos isolados não terem apresentado genes relacionados ao ciclo lisogênico, análises mais aprofundadas devem ser realizadas para comprovar que são realmente exclusivamente líticos, já que muitos não apresentam seu genoma completo e mais de 50% dos genes anotados não têm função definida. / serious problem that needs to be faced, either through the discovery of new antimicrobial substances, natural or synthetic, or by searching for alternative therapies that are affordable. The phage therapy is one of those alternatives. It is a form of biological control based on specific viruses that infect and kill bacterial cells: the bacteriophages. However, this therapeutic source is still poorly explored. This study used the cultivation, isolation and sequencing of the genome, as well as high-performance genomic techniques to isolate and characterize the genome of specific bacteriophages for enteroinvasive Escherichia coli ATCC 43893, for the understanding and the definition of the infection cycle (lytic or lysogenic) of these viruses. The methodology used in this study allowed the isolation of 12 viruses. 8 different viral strains had their genetic material extracted and purified, with good yield and reduced amount of contaminating bacterial DNA. The sequencing of the genome of these 8 viruses was conducted using the new generation MiSeq platform. The the genetical diversity of these bacteriophages was analyzed and it was found that the viruses belong to the Caudovirales order, which 2 belong to the Siphoviridae family and 6 to the Myoviridae family. Only one of them showed the potential to have lysogenic cycle, the other seven viruses contained no gene to suggest that. However, despite the isolated bacteriophages have not presented genes related to lysogenic cycle, further analysis should be conducted to demonstrate that they are really exclusively lytic, since many do not have their genome completed and more than 50% of the annotated genes have no defined function.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:51:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 3209236 bytes, checksum: 730f245d59f62f2daccf53d9d6fb9b93 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-16 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can be infected and lysed by an extensive range of bacteriophages, which is recognized as the main cause of failure or slow fermentation in the modern dairy industry. Contaminated fermentation processes affect product quality or even cause its complete loss. Although technological advances have reduced the incidence of these infections, they certainly do not eliminated it. The objective of this work was the isolation, identification and molecular characterization of lytic bacteriophages of Lactococcus lactis from sera from lactic fermentation. For this, serum samples were collected from three different dairies facilities. From one of them, were isolated 17 bacteriophages, which were propagated in L. lactis grown in GM17 medium and molecularly characterized using the techniques of multiplex PCR, DNA restriction profile, protein profile, transmission electron microscopy, cloning and sequencing. The extraction of the genome of bacteriophages isolated and its analysis revealed a strand of DNA of 48 kb for phage LIMG1 and 42 kb for phage LIMG4, while phage protein profile allowed the distinction of four groups, and the differentiation between them was consistent with the sample from which they were isolated. The PCR, coupled to microscopic analysis, confirmed the presence of members of the group 936-type phages, Siphoviridae family, the most abundant in dairy products worldwide. Phages contain isometric heads with 50 nm in diameter and a 180 nm long tail, without basal plate. The amplified sequence of isolate LIMG1 revealed high identity with other members of 936-type phages, although two punctual mutations had differed LIMG1 from the others. / Bactérias do Ácido Láctico (BAL) podem ser infectadas e lisadas por uma extensa faixa de bacteriófagos, o que constitui reconhecidamente a principal causa de fermentação falha ou lenta na indústria de laticínios moderna. Processos fermentativos contaminados prejudicam a qualidade do produto ou causam até mesmo sua perda completa. Embora avanços tecnológicos tenham reduzido a incidência destas infecções, eles certamente não as eliminaram. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi o isolamento, identificação e caracterização molecular de bacteriófagos líticos de Lactococcus lactis a partir de soros provenientes de fermentações lácticas. Para isto, amostras de soro foram coletadas em três diferentes laticínios e, a partir deles, foram isolados 17 bacteriófagos, os quais foram propagados em L. lactis cultivado em meio GM17 e caracterizados molecularmente utilizando-se as técnicas de multiplex PCR, perfil de restrição enzimática de DNA, perfil proteico, microscopia eletrônica de transmissão, clonagem e sequenciamento. A extração do genoma dos bacteriófagos isolados e sua análise revelaram uma fita de DNA de 48 kb para o isolado LIMG1 e 42 kb para o isolado LIMG4, enquanto o perfil de proteínas dos fagos permitiu a distinção de quatro grupos, sendo que a diferenciação entre eles foi condizente com a amostra da qual foram isolados. A técnica de PCR, associada à análise microscópica, confirmou a presença de fagos do grupo 936, família Siphoviridae, o mais abundante em laticínios em todo o mundo. Foram encontrados fagos de cabeça isométrica de 50 nm de diâmetro e caudas longas de cerca de 180 nm de comprimento, sem placa basal. O sequenciamento do genoma do isolado LIMG1 revelou alta identidade com outros representantes do grupo 936, embora tenham sido encontradas duas mutações pontuais que o diferenciaram dos demais.

Bacteriophage genomes show pervasive mosaicism, indicating that horizontal gene exchange plays a crucial role in their evolution. Phage genomes represent unique combinations of modules, each of them with a different phylogenetic history. Thus, a web-like, rather than a hierarchical scheme is needed for an appropriate representation of phage evolutionary relationships. Part of the virology community has long recognized this fact and calls for changing the traditional taxonomy that classifies tailed phages according to the type of genetic materials and phage tail and head/capsid morphologies. Moreover, based on morphological features, the current system depends on inspection of phage virions under the electron microscope and cannot directly classify prophages. With the genomic era, many phages have been sequenced that are not classified, calling for development of an automatic classification procedure that can cope with the sequencing pace. The ACLAME database provides a classification of phage proteins into families and assigns the families with at least 3 members to one or several functions.<p>In the first contribution of this work, the relative contribution of those different protein families to the similarities between the phages is assessed using pair-wise similarity matrices. The modular character of phage genomes is readily visualized using heatmaps, which differ depending on the function of the proteins used to measure the similarity. <p>Next, I propose a framework that allows for a reticulate classification of phages based on gene content (with statistical assessment of the significance of number of shared genes). Starting from gene/protein families, we built a weighted graph, where nodes represent phages and edges represent phage-phage similarities in terms of shared families. The topology of the network shows that most dsDNA phages form an interconnected group, confirming that dsDNA phages share a common gene pool, as proposed earlier. Differences are observed between temperate and virulent phages in the values of several centrality measures, which may correlate with different constraints to rampant recombination dictated by the phage lifestyle, and thus with a distinct evolutionary role in the phage population. <p>To this graph I applied a two-step clustering method to generate a fuzzy classification of phages. Using this methodology, each phage is associated with a membership vector, which quantitatively characterizes the membership of the phage to the clusters. Alternatively, genes were clustered based on their ‘phylogenetic profiles’ to define ‘evolutionary cohesive modules’. Phages can then be described as composite of a set of modules from the collection of modules of the whole phage population. The relationships between phages define a network based on module sharing. Unlike the first network built from statistical significant number of shared genes, this second network allows for a direct exploration of the nature of the functions shared between the connected phages. This functionality of the module-based network runs at the expense of missing links due to genes that are not part of modules, but which are encoded in the first network. <p>These approaches can easily focus on pre-defined modules for tracing one or several traits across the population. They provide an automatic and dynamic way to study relationships within the phage population. Moreover, they can be extended to the representation of populations of other mobile genetic elements or even to the entire mobilome.<p>Finally, to enrich the phage sequence space, which in turn allows for a better assessment of phage diversity and evolution, I devise a prophage prediction tool. With this methodology, approximately 800 prophages are predicted in 266 among 800 replicons screened. The comparison of a subset of these predictions with a manually annotated set shows a sensitivity of 79% and a positive predictive value of 91%, this later value suggesting that the procedure makes few false predictions. The preliminary analysis of the predicted prophages indicates that many may constitute novel phage types.<p>This work allows tracing guidelines for the classification and analysis of other mobile genetic elements. One can foresee that a pool of putative mobile genetic elements sequences can be extracted from the prokaryotic genomes and be further broken down in groups of related elements and evolutionary conserved modules. This would allow widening the picture of the evolutionary and functional relationships between these elements.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Les bactéries constituent le socle de presque tous les écosystèmes et l’étude de leurs dynamiques face aux perturbations biotiques et abiotiques est essentielle à la compréhension de leur maintien, de leur évolution et de leur diversification. Cette thèse vise à une meilleure appréhension de l’impact des bactériophages et des antibiotiques sur l’écologie évolutive des populations bactériennes et, plus particulièrement, sur l’évolution de leurs comportements sociaux. Dans une première partie, nous avons étudié comment les antibiotiques (Chapitres 1 et 2) et les phages (Chapitre 3) affectent les interactions fondées sur la production de biens publics ainsi que l’évolution de la résistance dans les populations de Pseudomonas aeruginosa, en combinant modélisation mathématique et évolution expérimentale. Nous avons montré que les phages et les antibiotiques favorisent les tricheurs face aux coopérateurs dans les environnements homogènes. Alors que l’avantage des tricheurs permet la croissance de la population et augmente la fréquence de résistance à court terme (Chapitre 1), les populations dominées par les tricheurs finissent par décliner en présence de phages, vraisemblablement suite aux pressions combinées des phages et des tricheurs (Chapitre 3). Dans une seconde partie, nous avons exploré in vitro les interactions complexes entre les phages et les antibiotiques dans le contexte des thérapies combinées. Conformément à la prédiction de la théorie de l’évolution selon laquelle plusieurs moyens de contrôle combinés sont plus efficaces que chacun séparément, nous avons montré que l’usage simultané de phages et d’antibiotiques réduit davantage la survie et la résistance des populations. Si ce résultat principal peut être modulé par différents facteurs tels que la dose d’antibiotiques (Chapitres 4 et 5), le moment d’inoculation (Chapitre 4), et le mode d’action des antibiotiques (Chapitre 5), il persiste sur le long terme (Chapitre 5). Nos résultats soulignent la complexité des interactions entre les effets négatifs des phages et des antibiotiques et l’écologie évolutive des populations bactériennes et apportent de nouveaux éléments à la fois à la compréhension de l’évolution de la socialité et à l’usage thérapeutique potentiel des phages et des antibiotiques. / Bacteria are the basis of virtually all ecosystems and examining their dynamics in the face of biotic and abiotic perturbations is essential to understanding their persistence, evolution and diversification. This thesis is directed towards a better understanding of the impact of phage and antibiotic pressure on the evolutionary ecology of bacterial populations and, in particular, on the evolution of bacterial social behaviours. First, using a combination of mathematical modelling and experimental evolution, we studied how antagonisms in the form of antibiotics (Chapters 1 and 2) and phages (Chapter 3) affect the dynamics of public goods production and strategies, and the evolution of resistance in populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found that both phages and antibiotics favour cheats over cooperators in well-mixed environments. While the advantage to cheats leads to population growth and even increased resistance frequency in the short-term (Chapter 1), the cheat-dominated populations eventually declined in the presence of phage predators, arguably due to the combination of antagonist pressure and cheating load (Chapter 3). Second, based on the evolutionary prediction that multiple control agents will be more efficient at controlling bacterial populations and reducing the evolution of resistance, we investigated in vitro the complex interactions between phages and antibiotics in the context of combined therapies. We showed that the combination of phages and antibiotics decreased population survival and resistance evolution significantly more than either alone. While this main result may be mitigated by several factors such as antibiotic dose (Chapters 4 and 5), the timing of inoculation (Chapter 4), and antibiotic mode of action (Chapter 5), it is also obtained in longer-term assays (Chapter 5). Our results highlight the complexity of the interplay between the negative effects exerted by antibiotics and phages and the evolutionary ecology of bacterial populations, and bring new insights both to the understanding of social evolution and for the potential therapeutic use of phages and antibiotics.

Les exopolysaccharides (EPS) sont des biopolymères pouvant être synthétisés par les Eucaryotes, lesArchées et les Procaryotes. Au niveau bactérien les EPS peuvent être impliqués dans la constitution du biofilm (phénomène de biofouling) lors de la colonisation de nouveaux milieux. Ces biopolymères ont des propriétés physico-chimiques et biologiques spécifiques et innovantes à haut potentiel biotechnologique (agroalimentaire, santé, cosmétique, ingénierie environnementale ...). A l'opposé, leurs rôles écologiques lors de l'établissement de biofilms de souches potentiellement pathogènes peuvent rendre leur éradication compliquée.Les processus de dépolymérisation par voie enzymatique sont nécessaires pour réaliser l'élucidation structurale fine des EPS complexes, pour la production de dérivés bio-actifs calibrés à faible poids moléculaire ou pour empêcher la formation de biofilm. La mise en évidence de ces phénomènes enzymatiques sur des microorganismes modèles peut également permettre de mieux cerner les flux de matière au sein de certains compartiments biologiques en particulier en milieu marin. Néanmoins la complexité et grande diversité de structures des EPS rendent la recherche d’enzymes de dépolymérisation spécifiques difficile.Deux stratégies ont été employées pour trouver des sources d'enzymes.1. La voie bactérienne via l’utilisation de bactéries marines productrices d’EPS.2. La voie virale par la recherche de polysaccharidases de bactériophages marins. En plus d’EPS marins déjà connus, de nouveaux substrats (EPS) originaux ont été produits et caractérisés à partir de batéries marines d’intérêts biotechnologiques et/ou écologiques pour les besoins du projet. Un criblage enzymatique sur 11 souches bactériennes du genre Alteromonas a permis de mettre en évidence que 7 d’entre elles présentaient une activité de dépolymérisation endogène vis-à-vis de leur propre EPS. Une bioprospection a été réalisée afin de constituer une virothèque à partir d’hôtes bactériens producteurs d’EPS dans le but de fournir une source de Cazymes virales potentielles. Sur 33 bactériophages, 10 ont été sélectionnés pour leur capacité à rester infectieux lorsque leurs hôtes synthétisent des EPS. Finalement un système hôte/virus a été sélectionné.Les 5 virus (appelés Carin-1 à 5) infectant Cobetia marina DSMZ 4741 ont été étudiés au niveau de leurs traits de vie. Les capacités de dépolymérisation de Carin-1 et Carin-5 sur l'EPS L6 ont été explorés plus en détail. En parallèle, la structure chimique de l'EPS L6 a été intégralement élucidée. / Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are a class of biopolymer synthesized by Eukarya, Archea and Procarya.Bacterial EPSs are involved in biofilm establishment and biofouling phenomenon. These polymers have physicochemical and biological properties suitable with biotechnological valorization. At the opposite, their involvment in biofouling of pathogenic strains can be problematic.Enzymatic depolymerization process are necessary for EPSs structural elucidation, Bioactive oligosaccharides production or to disrupt polysaccharidic biofilms. The highlight of enzymatic phenomenon can help to understand biogeochimical process in the ocean. Nevertheless the important structural diversity as well as their complexity make the sourcing of specific enzymes difficult.Two strategies were used to find enzymes.1. The bacterial way by using EPS-producing marine strains2. The viral way, with marine bacteriophages.For the need of the study, several EPS-substrates were produced and characterized. The majority of them were totally new. An enzymatic screening on 11 marine Alteromonas strains shown that 6 were able to depolymerize their EPS in an endogenous way. A bioprospection was realized to isolates marine bacteriophages with potential viral Cazymes. 10 out of 33 phages were selectionned for their ability to be infectious with their hosts in EPS production induced. Finally, a host/virus system was chosen. The bacteriophages infecting Cobetia marina DSMZ 4741 (named Carin-1 to 5) were studied. The polysaccharidase activities of Carin-1 and Carin-5 on the L6 EPS were studied more deeply. In parallel, the complete structural elucidation of the L6 EPS was realized.

La reconnaissance spécifique du génome viral et son encapsidation est une étape cruciale pour l’assemblage de particules virales. Chez SPP1, comme chez d’autres bactériophages à queue, le moteur moléculaire qui encapside le génome viral est composé de la terminase, une enzyme hétéro-oligomérique qui possède une activité ATPasique et nucléasique, et de la protéine portale, un oligomère cyclique par lequel l’ADN viral est transloqué. Dans un grand nombre de ses virus, l’encapsidation de l’ADN est initiée par la reconnaissance et le clivage d’une séquence spécifique nommée « pac ». C’est un évènement qui se produit une seule fois au début d’une série de cycles d’encapsidation processive à partir d’un concatémère issu de la réplication du génome du phage. La région pac de SPP1 contient deux séquences (pacL et pacR) où TerS (gp1) se lie entourant la région (pacC) où TerL (gp2) coupe l’ADN de SPP1.Ici, nous montrons qu’une région de la séquence pacL et qu’un motif polyadénine de pacR agissent ensemble pour promouvoir le clivage en pacC. La dégénération de la région pacC n’a pas montré d’effet sur que le clivage endonucléolytique qui a lieu à une position bien définie de pacC avec une précision de ~6 pb. Des études avec des phages proches de SPP1 ont montré une conservation dans la position du clivage, malgré des variations dans pacC, pacR ou dans la distance entre pacL et pacC. Les données sont compatibles avec un modèle dans lequel TerS interagit spécifiquement avec la région pacL, sur laquelle le multimère cyclique TerS doit s’enrouler, et le motif polyadénine de la région pacR. Le complexe nucléoprotéique résultant va créer un contexte structural qui permet de recruter et positionner le domaine nucléase de TerL pour une coupure très précise sur pacC sans spécificité de séquence. / The specific recognition of the viral genome and its packaging is a critical step in viral particle assembly. In SPP1, as in many tailed bacteriophages, the macromolecular motor that encapsidates viral DNA is composed of terminase, a hetero-oligomeric enzyme possessing ATPase and nuclease activities, and of portal protein, a cyclic oligomer through which DNA is translocated. In a large number of these viruses, DNA packaging is initiated by recognition and cleavage of a specific sequence pac. This event occurs once at the beginning of a series of processive encapsidation events along a substrate concatemer of replicated phage genomes. The SPP1 pac region has two sequences where TerS (gp1) binds (pacL and pacR) flanking the segment where TerL (gp2) cleaves the SPP1 DNA (pacC). Here we show that a sequence segment of pacL and a poly-adenine motif in pacR act together to promote cleavage at pacC. Extensive degeneration of pacC sequence has no detectable effect in pac cleavage. The endonucleolytic cut occurs at a defined position with a precision of ~6 bp. Studies with SPP1-related phages show conservation of the cut position, irrespectively of sequence variation in pacC, in pacR or changes in pacL-pacC distance. The data is compatible with a model in which TerS interacts specifically with a region of pacL that probably wraps around the TerS cyclical multimer, and a poly-A tract in pacR. The resulting nucleoprotein complex architecture positions TerL for accurate cleavage at pacC without specific sequence requirement.

Les bactériophages sont de puissants prédateurs bactériens. Leur développement est généralement redouté dans les industries agro-alimentaires mettant en oeuvre des fermentations, car les phages sont responsables d’accidents de fabrication affectant la qualité finale du produit. Leur impact lors de la vinification est moins bien défini. Le procédé comporte une étape de fermentation malolactique (FML), qui est assurée par la bactérie lactique Oenococcus oeni. La maîtrise de la FML est un moyen efficace pour protéger la qualité et la typicité des vins, vecteurs de commercialisation. Jusqu’à présent, cette étape fondamentale du processus de vinification n’est pas toujours maîtrisée. L’explication majeure réside dans l’insuffisance de la biomasse bactérienne endogène, liée aux conditions physico-chimiques difficiles du milieu. Des solutions visant à conduire rapidement la FML sont disponibles, comme l’inoculation de souches commerciales de O. oeni. Ces stratégies n’offrent toutefois pas une totale garantie de succès, et des retards ou non déclenchements de FML sont toujours observés. Ces situations inexpliquées amènent à s’interroger sur l’impact d’autres paramètres sur la fermentescibilité malolactique. L’objectif de cette thèse était d’évaluer la présence et la diversité des bactériophages antagonistes de la bactérie lactique O. oeni présents dans l’écosystème. La diversité des prophages présents dans le pangénome de O. oeni a été explorée. La lysogénie est fréquente dans l’espèce. Quatre groupes de prophages ont été identifiés sur la base de la séquence de l’intégrase, et du site de recombinaison site-spécifique utilisé. La pertinence de la classification établie a été vérifiée sur un panel de 40 phages isolés de moûts et de vins. Nos travaux suggèrent que la lysogénie est un moyen pour O. oeni de résister aux stress et aux phages, grâce à la présence de mécanismes de résistance sur les génomes prophagiques. La stabilité de la lysogénie lors de l’inoculation de souches lysogènes dans le vin et la possible libération de dérivés lytiques sont deux paramètres à prendre en compte lors des FML spontanées, et lors de l’inoculation de levains malolactiques. Ils sont susceptibles de moduler quantitativement et qualitativement la population. / Bacteriophages are responsible for the predation of bacteria. They pose an ever-present threat to the food industries because they invade and destroy the starter and affect production. Their destructive potential is currently difficult to establish during spontaneous production of wine. Malolactic fermentation (MLF) represents a main stage in the winemaking process, and is essentially driven by the lactic acid bacterium (LAB) Oenococcus oeni. A rapid and efficient FML is essential to optimize wine quality and typicity, as sales rely on top-quality products. Up to now, this essential step is not controlled, and this results from the limited growth of MLF bacteria in wine, due to stressing conditions. Inoculation of commercial bacterial starter cultures is a strategy to improve MLF control, and will allow a rapid and complete fermentation. However, despite these evolutions, sluggish or complete failures of MLF are still reported by wine farmers, either during spontaneous or directed fermentations. Such cases suggest that additional factors need to be identified. The outline of this thesis was to demonstrate the occurrence of phages infecting O. oeni in the ecosystem and provide essential information regarding phage diversity. We analyzed prophage diversity through comparative genomics and demonstrated that lysogeny is widespread. Four prophage groups were identified according to the integrase gene sequence and attachment site used for site specific recombination. The relevance of the classification scheme was verified through the analysis of a panel of 40 phages isolated from wine and must. We suggest that lysogeny helps O. oeni to cope with stress and phage attack, through the presence of specific anti-phage mechanisms harbored by the prophages. The stability of lysogens during inoculation in wine, and the possible release of lytic particules have to be considered during spontaneous or directed MLF. They are expected to shape the population.

Les bactériophages (ou phages) sont des prédateurs de bactéries et sont redoutés dans les productions agro-alimentaires mettant en œuvre des fermentations. En œnologie, la transformation du jus de raisin en vin fait appel à différents types de fermentation. La fermentation alcoolique est réalisée par des levures, et peut être suivie par une fermentation malolactique (FML), notamment pour les vins rouges, afin d’améliorer la stabilité microbiologique et les qualités organoleptiques du produit. La bactérie lactique OEnococcus oeni (O. oeni) appartient à la famille des Leuconostocaceae et est l’acteur principal de la FML. Des souches d’O. oeni sont utilisées comme levain malolactique, et inoculées dans le vin pour mieux maitriser les fermentations. O. oeni rencontre dans son environnement des phages spécifiques appelés oenophages. Toutefois, bien que la présence de ces oenophages ait été constatée, leur diversité reste à ce jour peu explorée, tout comme leurs implications dans l’élaboration du vin. Une fréquence élevée de la lysogénie a été observée dans l’espèce et parmi les levains commercialisés. Les risques associés a la présence de phages ou à la lysogénie sont des paramètres peu abordés dans la filière. Afin de répondre à ces interrogations, dans un premier axe, la diversité des oenophages a été étudiée en isolant des phages à partir d’une large collecte d’échantillons œnologiques menée dans le sud-ouest de la France. L’analyse d’échantillons de différents types de vin, de différents cépages, collectés à différentes étapes de la vinification nous a permis de mettre en lumière une diversité génomique des oenophages non suspectée. Nous avons initié le développement de nouveaux outils moléculaires pour étudier la dynamique des populations bactériennes et phagiques dans le contexte œnologique. Ainsi, une première approche par Digital Droplet PCR a été utilisée pour détecter et quantifier les populations lysogènes. Dans un deuxième axe, l’interaction phage-hôte en présence de composés phénoliques du vin a été étudiée. Les travaux suggèrent que la croissance d’O. oeni en présence de certains flavonols et acides phénoliques réduit la capacité d’adsorption des phages sur leur hôte. / Bacteriophages are viral predators of bacteria and a major concern in fermentations involved in food processing industry. In winemaking, transformation of grape juice into wine involves different types of fermentations. Alcoholic fermentation is driven by yeasts, and can be followed by malolactic fermentation (MLF), especially for red wines, which can improve microbial stability and sensorial quality of wine. The lactic acid bacterium OEnococcus oeni (O. oeni), member of Leuconostocacae family, is generally responsible for the MLF process. Strains of O. oeni are also used as starters to master MLF. O. oeni encounters specific phages called oenophages. Even though the presence of oenophages has been observed, their diversity remains poorly investigated, just like their implications in winemaking. However, high frequency of lysogeny has been observed among O. oeni strains and starters. Risks linked with the presence of phages and lysogeny are questioned in the sector. In the first part of this thesis, oenophages diversity has been studied with the isolation of a large number of phages during the collection of a broad range of oenological samples in South West France. Analysis of samples coming from different wine types and varieties, collected at different steps of winemaking enabled us to highlight an underestimated genomic diversity. We also initiated the development of new molecular tools to study population dynamics among phages and hosts in the winemaking context. Thus, a first approach by Digital Droplet PCR has been used to detect and quantify lysogenic strains. In the second part, phage-host interactions in the presence of wine phenolic compound were investigated. Our results suggest that growth of O.oeni cells in the presence of particular flavonols and phenolic acids reduces adsorption capacities of phages on their host.

<p>Ever since the invention of antibiotics nearly a century ago,the threat of antibiotic resistance has been gradually increasing. As antibiotics are continually prescribed, the rate at which bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics is increasing as well. It is projected that antibiotic resistance is one of the largest threats to overall world health, and bacteriophage therapy is one of the leading strategies to combat it. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill specific host bacteria andcan potentially be utilized to kill desired bacteria causing infections that are resistant to antibiotics.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The purpose of this research project is to learn more about the bacteriophage-host interaction through mass spectrometry and bioinformatic tools. This is done through the analysis of proteins and lipids that are produced when the bacteriophage infects the host bacteria. The growth curve of a Passage One From Frozen (P1FF) and a Passage Two From Frozen (P2FF) sample of Mycobacterium smegmatiswas calculated to determine to optimum time for bacteriophage infection. Twobacteriophages were chosen, PotatoSplit and Zalkecks, the Mycobacterium smegmatis samples were infected, samples collected, and mass spectrometry performed. A large portion of this research project is based on the analysis of the proteins and lipids that are produced during each bacteriophage’s infection. Proteomic and lipidomic strategies can be implemented to understand more about the bacteriophage-host interaction and discover any proteins and lipids that are produced at varying timepoints throughout the inoculation process. Bioinformatic tools can then be used to understand the potential functions of each protein or lipid and potential functions or applications of the bacteriophage in general, including the pathogenicity of each bacteriophage.</p> <p><br></p> <p> Determined from proteomic and lipidomic analysis, a list of all proteins and lipids found within each phage infected sample was made. An important trend discovered is that more phage proteins were expressed at later times during the phage infection –Hour 7 and Hour 10, whereas more bacterial proteins were expressed initially –Hour 0 and Hour 3. A case study to investigate the usage of different intensity types produced from mass spectrometry was completed. Overall, it was determined that both the number of phageproteins and bacterial proteins can differ depending on if LFQ or iBAQ intensity type data was used. Correlation between proteins and lipid ontology classes was performed and shows whether groups of lipids are upregulated or downregulated at 14each time point. Understanding the function of lipid ontology groups and the type of regulation provides insight into how the phage or bacteria are potentially using the lipids produced. Some of the main findings include lipids that are involved in bacterial defense mechanisms/energy usage increase over time. Some correlation trends were not consistent across the different bacteriophages, which can be contributed to the different phage life cycles  and therefore different phage-host interactions. Further investigation should be performed to determine the specific biological function of proteins and lipids to confidently make claims about potential applications for each phage. Also, further investigation should be performed to understand if the differences in results between bacteriophage PotatoSplit and Zalkecks are due to the varying life cycles.</p>

Isolating novel phages using Streptomyces azureus, which produces antibiotic thiostrepton, as a host, and characterizing the genomes may help us to find new tools that could be used to develop antibiotics in addition to contribute to the databases of phages and specifically, Streptomyces phages. Streptomyces phages Alsaber, Omar, Attoomi, Rowa, and ZamZam were isolated using during this study. They were isolated from enriched soil and sequenced by Illumina sequencing method. They were isolated from three different geographical regions. They are siphoviridae phages that create small clear plaques with a diameter of approximately 0.5-1 mm, except for Rowa which has cloudy plaques, and they have varied sizes of their heads and tails. ZamZam was not characterized at this time. The sequencing shows that they are circular genome with 3' sticky overhang and various genomes' sizes with high percentage of GC content with the average of 66%. Alsaber was classified under sub-cluster BD3, while Omar was categorized under sub-cluster BD2. They share the same cluster of Cluster BD. Rowa was placed in Cluster BL and Attoomi is currently a singleton that does not fit into an established cluster. Alsaber yields 76 putative genes with no tRNA, Omar 81 putative genes with 1 tRNA. Attoomi 53 putative genes with no tRNA, and Rowa with 61 orfs and 7 tRNA. Rowa also was a putative temperate phage due to its lysogenic activity, and Row was not able to reinfect the lysogenic strain, S. azureus (Rowa). All of the isolated phages infected S. indigocolor, while only Attoomi and Rowa were able to infect S. tricolor. Upon completion of this project, we acquired more data and understanding of S. azureus phages and Actinobacteriophage in general, which will expand the scale of future research of Streptomyces bacteriophages.