The black line shows a hyperbolic curve fit to the data from phage counts 1 to 314.

( A) The numbers of phamilies are reported for between 1 and 627 phage genomes sampled at random without replacement the mean of 10,000 iterations is shown in red gray lines indicate a confidence interval of two standard deviations. Phage isolation and analysis was performed by a large consortium of academic institutions, illustrating the substantial benefits of a disseminated, structured program involving large numbers of freshman undergraduates in scientific discovery.īacteriophage evolution evolutionary biology genomics infectious disease microbiology viruses. Furthermore, rarefaction analysis shows that the mycobacteriophage population is not closed, and there is a constant influx of genes from other sources. However, amino acid sequence comparisons show pervasive genomic mosaicism, and quantification of inter-cluster and intra-cluster relatedness reveals a continuum of genetic diversity, albeit with uneven representation of different phages. Their genetic diversity is considerable, and there are 28 distinct genomic types (clusters) with related nucleotide sequences. To understand the population structure of phages infecting a single host strain, we isolated, sequenced, and compared 627 phages of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Limited genomic information shows that phage genomes are mosaic, and the genetic architecture of phage populations remains ill-defined. The bacteriophage population is large, dynamic, ancient, and genetically diverse.

The Sea Archer by Jeny Heckman