Novel Acinetobacter baumannii Bacteriophage Aristophanes Encoding Structural Polysaccharide Deacetylase

appears to be one of the most crucial nosocomial pathogens. A possible component of antimicrobial therapy for infections caused by extremely drug-resistant strains may be specific lytic bacteriophages or phage-derived enzymes. In the present study, we observe the biological features, genomic organization, and phage-host interaction strategy of novel virulent bacteriophage Aristophanes isolated on strain having K26 capsular polysaccharide structure. According to phylogenetic analysis phage Aristophanes can be classified as a representative of a new distinct genus of the subfamily of the family . This is the first reported phage carrying tailspike deacetylase, which caused O-acetylation of one of the K26 sugar residues.