Institute of
bioorganic chemistry

Researchers from the Laboratory of molecular bioengineering IBCh RAS, in collaboration with colleagues from other Russian institutions, have isolated and characterized two new virulent phages of the Obolenskvirus genus, which infect Acinetobacter baumannii, a significant nosocomial pathogen. The phages, named Brutus and Scipio, were capable of infecting A. baumannii strains corresponding to capsular types K116 and K82, respectively. The authors described the biological properties and genomic organization of the phages, and conducted comparative genomic, phylogenetic, and pangenomic analyses. Furthermore, they investigated the enzymatic activity of the tailspike depolymerase encoded in the genome of phage Scipio, marking the first registered virus to infect A. baumannii of the K82 capsular type. The exploration of new representatives within the Obolenskvirus genus enhances our understanding of the diversity of viruses in this taxonomic group and the interaction strategies between Obolenskvirus phages and their host bacteria. This work has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.