title: Comparative genomics of the mycobacteriophages: insights into bacteriophage evolution.
abstract: The recognition of the vast numbers of bacteriophages in the biosphere has prompted a renewal of interest in understanding their morphological and genetic diversity, and elucidating the evolutionary mechanisms that give rise to them. We have approached these questions by isolating and characterizing a collection of mycobacteriophages that infect a common bacterial host, Mycobacterium smegmatis. Comparative genomic analysis of 50 mycobacteriophages shows that they are highly diverse, although not uniformly so, that they are pervasively mosaic with a multitude of single gene modules, and that this mosaicism is generated through illegitimate recombination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Pittsburgh Bacteriophage Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. gfh@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Graham F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Hatfull
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Cresawn
authors.forename: Roger W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hendrix
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009030:Mosaicism; D009160:Mycobacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000648:ultrastructure / Q000821:virology*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic