Phylogenetic diversity of T4-like bacteriophages in Lake Baikal, East Siberia.

Among the tailed phages, the myoviruses, those with contractile tails, are widespread and diverse. An important component of the Myoviridae family is the genus 'T4-like viruses'. The present study was aimed at elucidating the molecular diversity of T4-type bacteriophages in Lake Baikal by partial sequencing of g23 genes of T4-type bacteriophages. Our study revealed that the g23 gene sequences investigated were highly diverse and different from those of T4-like bacteriophages and from g23 clones obtained from different environments. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all g23 fragments from Lake Baikal, except for the one sequence, were more closely related to marine T4 cyanophages and to previously described subgroups of uncultured T4 phages from marine and rice field environments.