title: Origins of highly mosaic mycobacteriophage genomes.
abstract: Bacteriophages are the most abundant organisms in the biosphere and play major roles in the ecological balance of microbial life. The genomic sequences of ten newly isolated mycobacteriophages suggest that the bacteriophage population as a whole is amazingly diverse and may represent the largest unexplored reservoir of sequence information in the biosphere. Genomic comparison of these mycobacteriophages contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms of viral evolution and provides compelling evidence for the role of illegitimate recombination in horizontal genetic exchange. The promiscuity of these recombination events results in the inclusion of many unexpected genes including those implicated in mycobacterial latency, the cellular and immune responses to mycobacterial infections, and autoimmune diseases such as human lupus. While the role of phages as vehicles of toxin genes is well established, these observations suggest a much broader involvement of phages in bacterial virulence and the host response to bacterial infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Pittsburgh Bacteriophage Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Marisa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pedulla
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Houtz
authors.forename: Tharun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karthikeyan
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wadsworth
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Debbie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jacobs-Sera
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Falbo
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Pannunzio
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Brucker
authors.forename: Vanaja
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Jayasankar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kandasamy
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: Svetsoslav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bardarov
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kriakov
authors.forename: Jeffrey G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Roger W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hendrix
authors.forename: Graham F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Hatfull
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009030:Mosaicism / Q000235:genetics*; D009160:Mycobacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000821:virology*; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004279:DNA, Viral