title: Phage variation: understanding the behaviour of an accidental pathogen.
abstract: Understanding why carriers of meningococci occasionally develop invasive disease is a major challenge. Individual strains of meningococci are extremely variable and undergo dynamic changes in DNA content and organization. This heterogeneity of meningococcal populations might enhance the fitness of this human-restricted bacterium. The recent discovery of a meningococcal bacteriophage and its associations to disease is an intriguing example of this variability and could contribute to a better understanding of microbial commensal and virulence behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Infectious Diseases Group, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. richard.moxon@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: E Richard
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Moxon
authors.forename: Vincent A A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Jansen
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D006801:Humans; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000382:microbiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000821:virology*; D014774:Virulence