TY - JOUR TI - Resurrection of a global, metagenomically defined gokushovirus AU - Kirchberger, Paul C AU - Ochman, Howard A2 - Zambrano, MarĂ­a Mercedes A2 - Kirkegaard, Karla A2 - Breitbart, Mya VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/02/26 SP - e51599 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e51599 DO - 10.7554/eLife.51599 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51599 AB - Gokushoviruses are single-stranded, circular DNA bacteriophages found in metagenomic datasets from diverse ecosystems worldwide, including human gut microbiomes. Despite their ubiquity and abundance, little is known about their biology or host range: Isolates are exceedingly rare, known only from three obligate intracellular bacterial genera. By synthesizing circularized phage genomes from prophages embedded in diverse enteric bacteria, we produced gokushoviruses in an experimentally tractable model system, allowing us to investigate their features and biology. We demonstrate that virions can reliably infect and lysogenize hosts by hijacking a conserved chromosome-dimer resolution system. Sequence motifs required for lysogeny are detectable in other metagenomically defined gokushoviruses; however, we show that even partial motifs enable phages to persist cytoplasmically without leading to collapse of their host culture. This ability to employ multiple, disparate survival strategies is likely key to the long-term persistence and global distribution of Gokushovirinae. KW - Microviridae KW - virome KW - bacteriophage KW - integrative elements KW - metagenomes JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -