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Abstract:
Bacteriophages are highly abundant viruses of bacteria. The major role
of phages in shaping bacterial communities and their emerging medical
potential as antibacterial agents has triggered a rebirth of phage
research. To understand the molecular mechanisms by which phages hijack
their host, omics technologies can provide novel insights into the
organization of transcriptional and translational events occurring
during the infection process. In this study, we apply transcriptomics
and proteomics to characterize the temporal patterns of transcription
and protein synthesis during the T4 phage infection of E. coli. We
investigated the stability of E. coli-originated transcripts and
proteins in the course of infection, identifying the degradation of E.
coli transcripts and the preservation of the host proteome. Moreover,
the correlation between the phage transcriptome and proteome reveals
specific T4 phage mRNAs and proteins that are temporally decoupled,
suggesting post-transcriptional and translational regulation mechanisms.
This study provides the first comprehensive insights into the molecular
takeover of E. coli by bacteriophage T4. This data set represents a
valuable resource for future studies seeking to study molecular and
regulatory events during infection. We created a user-friendly online
tool, POTATO4, which is available to the scientific community and allows
access to gene expression patterns for E. coli and T4 genes.
