Origins of highly mosaic mycobacteriophage genomes.
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.
Pedulla
Marisa L
ML
Department of Biological Sciences and Pittsburgh Bacteriophage Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Ford
Michael E
ME
Houtz
Jennifer M
JM
Karthikeyan
Tharun
T
Wadsworth
Curtis
C
Lewis
John A
JA
Jacobs-Sera
Debbie
D
Falbo
Jacob
J
Gross
Joseph
J
Pannunzio
Nicholas R
NR
Brucker
William
W
Kumar
Vanaja
V
Kandasamy
Jayasankar
J
Keenan
Lauren
L
Bardarov
Svetsoslav
S
Kriakov
Jordan
J
Lawrence
Jeffrey G
JG
Jacobs
William R
WR
Hendrix
Roger W
RW
Hatfull
Graham F
GF
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
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004279:DNA, Viral