The MaMV-DC cyanophage,which infects the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa,was isolated from Lake Dianchi,Kunming,China.Twenty-one cyanobacterial strains were used to detect the host range of MaMV-DC.Microcystic aeruginosa FACHB-524 and plaque purification were used to isolate individual cyanophages,and culturing MaMV-DC with cyanobacteria allowed us to prepare purified cyanophages for further analysis.Electron microscopy demonstrated that the negatively stained viral particles are tadpole-shaped with an icosahedral head approximately 70 nm in diameter and a contractile tail approximately 160 nm in length.Using one-step growth experiments,the latent period and burst size of MaMV-DC were estimated to be 24–48 hours and approximately 80infectious units per cell,respectively.Restriction endonuclease digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis were performed using purified MaMV-DC genomic DNA,and the genome size was estimated to be approximately 160 kb.Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(SDS-PAGE)analysis revealed four major structural proteins.These results support the growing interest in using freshwater cyanophages to control bloom-forming cyanobacterium.
Dear Editor,We report the results of the preliminary isolation of two virus-like particles(VLPs)that are infectious to freshwater cyanobacteria from Lake Donghu,the largest urban lake in China,located in Wuhan City,Hubei Province.By light and transmission electron microscopy,we observed VLPs causing lytic infections in freshwater
