Exploitation of a Bacterium-Encoded Lytic Transglycosylase by a Human Oral Lytic Phage To Facilitate Infection

Bacteriophages (phages) are an integral part of the human oral microbiome. Their roles in modulating bacterial physiology and shaping microbial communities have been discussed but remain understudied due to limited isolation and characterization of oral phage. Here, we report the isolation of LC001, a lytic phage targeting human oral Schaalia odontolytica (formerly known as Actinomyces odontolyticus) strain XH001. We showed that LC001 attached to and infected surface-grown, but not planktonic, XH001 cells, and it displayed remarkable host specificity at the strain level. Whole-genome sequencing of spontaneous LC001-resistant, surface-grown XH001 mutants revealed that the majority of the mutants carry nonsense or frameshift mutations in XH001 gene APY09_05145 (renamed ltg-1), which encodes a putative lytic transglycosylase (LT). The mutants are defective in LC001 binding, as revealed by direct visualization of the significantly reduced attachment of phage particles to the XH001 spontaneous mutants compared that to the wild type. Meanwhile, targeted deletion of ltg-1 produced a mutant that is defective in LC001 binding and resistant to LC001 infection even as surface-grown cells, while complementation of ltg-1 in the mutant background restored the LC001-sensitive phenotype. Intriguingly, similar expression levels of ltg-1 were observed in surface-grown and planktonic XH001, which displayed LC001-binding and nonbinding phenotypes, respectively. Furthermore, the overexpression of ltg-1 failed to confer an LC001-binding and -sensitive phenotype to planktonic XH001. Thus, our data suggested that rather than directly serving as a phage receptor, ltg-1-encoded LT may increase the accessibility of phage receptor, possibly via its enzymatic activity, by cleaving the peptidoglycan structure for better receptor exposure during peptidoglycan remodeling, a function that can be exploited by LC001 to facilitate infection. IMPORTANCE The evidence for the presence of a diverse and abundant phage population in the host-associated oral microbiome came largely from metagenomic analysis or the observation of virus-like particles within saliva/plaque samples, while the isolation of oral phage and investigation of their interaction with bacterial hosts are limited. Here, we report the isolation of LC001, the first lytic phage targeting oral Schaalia odontolytica. Our study suggested that LC001 may exploit the host bacterium-encoded lytic transglycosylase function to gain access to the receptor, thus facilitating its infection. The evidence for the presence of a diverse and abundant phage population in the host-associated oral microbiome came largely from metagenomic analysis or the observation of virus-like particles within saliva/plaque samples, while the isolation of oral phage and investigation of their interaction with bacterial hosts are limited. Here, we report the isolation of LC001, the first lytic phage targeting oral Schaalia odontolytica.