Complete nucleotide sequence of the virulent brucellaphage F1

Brucellosis is a widespread bacterial zoonotic disease. Brucellae are facultative intracellular pathogens which may cause reproductive failure and abortion in animals and a feverish multiorgan disease in humans. Most Brucella species preferentially infect specific animal hosts. The history of brucellaphages and their use as diagnostic tool for the identification of Brucella species began with the discovery of phage Tb (Tbilisi, Russia) in the 1960s. On the basis of their host range, brucellaphages are classified in seven groups (Tb, Fi, Wb, Bk2, R/C, Iz, Np)which can be used for typing. All brucellaphages described so far have a similar morphology and are apparently closely related. They are considered as a single taxonomic species comprising different host range variants. Here, we report the 41,143 bp genome of the virulent phage F1.