The core oligosaccharide and thioredoxin of Vibrio cholerae are necessary for binding and propagation of its typing phage VP3.

VP3 is a T7-like phage and was used as one of the typing phages in a phage-biotyping scheme that has been used for the typing of Vibrio cholerae O1 biotype El Tor. Here, we studied the receptor and other host genes of V. cholerae necessary for the lytic propagation of VP3. Six mutants resistant to VP3 infection were obtained from the random transposon insertion mutant bank of the sensitive strain N16961. The genes VC0229 and VC0231, which belong to the wav gene cluster encoding the core oligosaccharide (OS) region of lipopolysaccharide, were found to be interrupted by the transposon in five mutants, and the sixth mutant had the transposon inserted between the genes rhlB and trxA, which encode the ATP-dependent RNA helicase RhlB and thioredoxin, respectively. Gene complementation, transcription analysis, and the loss of VP3 sensitivity by the gene deletion mutants confirmed the relationship between VP3 resistance and VC0229, VC0231, and trxA mutation. The product of VP3 gene 44 (gp44) was predicted to be a tail fiber protein. gp44 could bind to the sensitive wild-type strain and the trxA mutant, but not to VC0229 and VC0231 mutants. The results showed that OS is a VP3 receptor on the surface of N16961, thioredoxin of the host strain is involved in the propagation of the phage, and gp44 is the tail fiber protein of VP3. This revealed the first step in the infection mechanism of the T7-like phage VP3 in V. cholerae.