The host phylogeny determines viral infectivity and replication across Staphylococcus host species

Genetic similarity between eukaryotic host species is an important determinant of the outcome of virus host shifts, where a pathogen infects a novel host species. However, it is less clear if this is the case for prokaryotes where anti-virus defences can be transmitted by horizontal gene transfer and evolve rapidly. Understanding the patterns and determinants of cross-species transmissions may provide insights into the processes underlying pathogen emergence. Here, we measure the susceptibility of 64 strains of Staphylococcus bacteria (48 strains of S. aureus and 16 non-aureus species) to the bacteriophage ISP, which is currently under investigation for use in phage therapy. Using three methods – plaque assays, optical density (OD) assays, and quantitative (q)PCR – we find that the host phylogeny explains a large proportion of the variation in susceptibility to ISP across the host panel. These patterns were consistent in models of only S. aureus strains and models with a single representative from each Staphylococcus species, suggesting that these phylogenetic effects are conserved both within and among host species. We find positive correlations between susceptibility assessed using a binary measure of plaque assay, OD, and qPCR, but not between the continuous component of plaque assay and any other method, suggesting that plaque assays alone may be inadequate to assess host range. Together, our results demonstrate the ability of bacterial host evolutionary relatedness to explain differences in susceptibility to phage infection, with implications for the development of ISP both as a phage therapy treatment and as an experimental system for the study of virus host shifts.