Presentation of Three Novel Tailed Phages Targeting Multiple Strains of Pseudomonas syringae .

are ubiquitous epiphytic plant pathogens infecting a wide range of important agricultural plant species. Bacteriophages has been proposed as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens, however, in order to utilize this approach, a deeper understanding of phage diversity and phage-host interactions is required. Phages targeting GAW0113 were isolated from organic waste samples. Three distinct phage isolates were purified and subjected to whole-genome sequencing, comparative genomics, transmission electron microscopy and host-range assay using a wide selection of diverse isolates. The three phage isolates, Pseudomonas phage Bertil, Misse, and Strit, were shown to have podovirus morphology with a short tail stub and isometric head. They had double-stranded DNA ranging from 41,342 to 41,374 bp in size comprising 50-51 open reading frames. The three phage genomes were highly similar and genomic comparison analyses showed that they all belong to the family of the order . All three phages were shown to have a narrow host-range. The three phages were shown to share morphological and genomic features with other phages in the family, however, based on the limited nucleotide similarity we propose that the phages constitute a novel genus. All three phages were found to infect multiple strains of covering several phylogroups.