Comparative genomics of Nitratiruptor bacteria and their induced bactriophages

Genus Nitratiruptor is one of the most abundant chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms associated with the deep-sea hydrothermal environments in the Okinawa Trough, Japan. To know the evolutional history of Epsilonproteobacteria especially in the acquisition of pathogenicity and widespread propagation and adaptation to various ecological niches, it is necessary to reveal the co-evolution of temperate phages and deeply branching epsilonproteobacterial lineage in more details. Here, we characterized phages induced from diverse Nitratiruptor strains, and conducted comparative genomic analyses.