Hatfull, G F and Pedulla, M and Jacobs-Sera, D and Cichon, P M and Foley, A and Ford, M E and Gonda, R M and Houtz, J M and Hryckowian, A J and Kelchner, V A and Namburi, S and Pajcini, K V and Popovich, M G and Schleicher, D T and Simanek, B Z and Smith, A L and Zdanowicz, G M and Kumar, Vanaja and Peebes, C L and Jacobs, W R and Lawrence , J G and Hendrix, R W
(2006)
Exploring theMycobacteriophageMetaproteome:
Phage Genomics as an Educational Platform.
PLOS Genetics, 2 (6).
e92-0001.
ISSN 1553-7390; eISSN 1553-7404
Abstract
Bacteriophages are the most abundant forms of life in the biosphere and carry genomes characterized by high genetic
diversity and mosaic architectures. The complete sequences of 30 mycobacteriophage genomes show them collectively
to encode 101 tRNAs, three tmRNAs, and 3,357 proteins belonging to 1,536 ‘‘phamilies’’ of related sequences, and a
statistical analysis predicts that these represent approximately 50% of the total number of phamilies in the
mycobacteriophage population. These phamilies contain 2.19 proteins on average; more than half (774) of them
contain just a single protein sequence. Only six phamilies have representatives in more than half of the 30 genomes,
and only three—encoding tape-measure proteins, lysins, and minor tail proteins—are present in all 30 phages,
although these phamilies are themselves highly modular, such that no single amino acid sequence element is present
in all 30 mycobacteriophage genomes. Of the 1,536 phamilies, only 230 (15%) have amino acid sequence similarity to
previously reported proteins, reflecting the enormous genetic diversity of the entire phage population. The abundance
and diversity of phages, the simplicity of phage isolation, and the relatively small size of phage genomes support
bacteriophage isolation and comparative genomic analysis as a highly suitable platform for discovery-based education.
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