Fig. 1: WonAB carried on the WASA-1 prophage renders the WASA lineage ICP1 resistant.
From: West African–South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae encodes multiple distinct phage defence systems
a, Heat map showing mean plaque-forming units (PFU ml−1) of diverse ICP1–3 isolates determined by plaque assays on wave 1 V. cholerae strains, compared with a pre-7th pandemic control (MAK757), shown alongside tenfold serial dilution plaque assays of ICP1-2006. Data represent the results of three independent experiments. Strain P27459 encodes a naturally occurring resistant variant of the ICP2 receptor OmpU. b, Schematic of the WASA-1 prophage highlighting wonAB and genes with predicted functions in prophage biology. c, Heat map showing mean PFU ml−1 of diverse ICP1 isolates determined by plaque assays on Peruvian V. cholerae strains in WT and ΔWASA-1 backgrounds, determined as in a. d, Plaque assay showing the effects of ΔWASA-1, ΔwonAB and wonAB complementation in strain A1552 on ICP1-2006 PFU ml−1 alongside the effect of producing WonAB in non-WASA strains. e, Replication assay showing change in PFU ml−1 over time following infection of the indicated A1552 cultures with approximately 103–104 PFU of ICP1-2006. f, Plaque assay showing the effect of E7946 derivatives producing either WonA, WonB or WonAB on ICP1-2006 PFU ml−1. Where indicated, strains in d–f contain a chromosomally integrated transposon carrying the arabinose-inducible PBAD promoter, induced by the addition of 0.2% arabinose (ara). g, AlphaFold3-predicted structure of the putative WonAB complex shown below the schematic (top; aa, amino acids) indicating the conserved motifs. Residues targeted by site-directed mutagenesis are highlighted in red. N- and C-termini are indicated. h, Plaque assay testing the effect of WonA and WonB site-directed variants expressed from their native locus on ICP1-2006 PFU ml−1. The bar charts show the mean + s.d. of three independent experiments. d.l., detection limit.
