Bacteria Are Smartphones and Mobile Genes Are Apps.
Bacterial core and accessory genome components are analogous to the operating system and applications of smartphones. The core genome provides stable taxonomy and species lists, but phenotypes reflect the mobile pool of accessory genes. This suggests changes to the ways we define bacterial species and describe bacterial communities.
Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK. Electronic address: peter.young@york.ac.uk.
J Peter W
JPW
Young
D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D010641:Phenotype; D000068997:Smartphone
D004269:DNA, Bacterial
accessory gene; core genome; smartphone