title: Phase variation: how to create and coordinate population diversity.
abstract: Phase variation yields phenotypic heterogeneity in a clonal population as the result of one of a limited number of known molecular mechanisms. These include slipped strand mispairing, site-specific recombination and epigenetic regulation mediated by DNA methylation. Recently new regulatory variants utilizing these mechanisms have been identified, which is facilitating the identification of additional phase variation events solely from genome sequence analysis. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that in many cases phase variation control is integrated with regulatory networks and with cellular processes of a growing cell. This review focuses specifically on these recent advances in the understanding of the regulation of phase variation.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Immunology and Infection, Hull York Medical School and the Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK. marjan.vanderwoude@york.ac.uk
authors.forename: Marjan W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: van der Woude
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D010641:Phenotype; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial