Recovery of temperate Desulfovibrio vulgaris bacteriophage using a novel host strain

Summary A novel sulfate‐reducing bacterium (strain DePue) closely related to Desulfovibrio vulgaris ssp. vulgaris strain Hildenborough was isolated from the sediment of a heavy‐metal impacted lake using established techniques. Although few physiological differences between strains DePue and Hildenborough were observed, pulse‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed a significant genome reduction in strain DePue. Comparative whole‐genome microarray and polymerase chain reaction analyses demonstrated that the absence of genes annotated in the Hildenborough genome as phage or phage‐related contributed to the significant genome reduction in strain DePue. Two morphotypically distinct temperate bacteriophage from strain Hildenborough were recovered using strain DePue as a host for plaque isolation.