Gut-associated phages are hypothesized to alter the abundance and activity of their bacterial hosts, contributing to human health and disease. Although temperate phages constitute a significant fraction of the gut virome, the effects of lysogenic infection are underexplored. We report that the temperate phage, Bacteroides phage BV01, broadly alters its host’s transcriptome, the prominent human gut symbiont Bacteroides vulgatus. This alteration occurs through phage-induced repression of a tryptophan-rich sensory protein (TspO) and represses bile acid deconjugation. Because microbially modified bile acids are important signals for the mammalian host, this is a mechanism by which a phage may influence mammalian phenotypes. Furthermore, BV01 and its relatives in the proposed phage family Salyersviridae are ubiquitous in human gut metagenomes, infecting a broad range of Bacteroides hosts. These results demonstrate the complexity of phage-bacteria-mammal relationships and emphasize a need to better understand the role of temperate phages in the gut microbiome.

假设与肠道相关的噬菌体会改变其细菌宿主的丰度和活性，从而促进人类健康和疾病。尽管温带噬菌体构成了肠道病毒组的重要组成部分，但溶原性感染的影响尚未得到充分研究。我们报告说，温带噬菌体 Bacteroides phage BV01 广泛地改变了其宿主的转录组，即突出的人类肠道共生菌 Bacteroides vulgatus. 这种改变是通过噬菌体诱导的富含色氨酸的感觉蛋白 (TspO) 的抑制发生的，并抑制胆汁酸解偶联。因为微生物修饰的胆汁酸是哺乳动物宿主的重要信号，这是噬菌体可能影响哺乳动物表型的一种机制。此外，BV01 及其在拟议的噬菌体家族 Salyersviridae 中的亲属在人类肠道宏基因组中无处不在，可感染广泛的拟杆菌宿主。这些结果证明了噬菌体-细菌-哺乳动物关系的复杂性，并强调需要更好地了解温带噬菌体在肠道微生物组中的作用。