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PMID: 16365305 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Widespread genetic exchange among terrestrial bacteriophages.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 102 ·No. 52 ·2005-12-27 ·Pages 19009-14

Silander OK, Weinreich DM, Wright KM, O'Keefe KJ, Rang CU, Turner PE, Chao L

Abstract

Bacteriophages are the most numerous entities in the biosphere. Despite this numerical dominance, the genetic structure of bacteriophage populations is poorly understood. Here, we present a biogeography study involving 25 previously undescribed bacteriophages from the Cystoviridae clade, a group characterized by a dsRNA genome divided into three segments. Previous laboratory manipulation has shown that, when multiple Cystoviruses infect a single host cell, they undergo (i) rare intrasegment recombination events and (ii) frequent genetic reassortment between segments. Analyzing linkage disequilibrium (LD) within segments, we find no significant evidence of intrasegment recombination in wild populations, consistent with (i). An extensive analysis of LD between segments supports frequent reassortment, on a time scale similar to the genomic mutation rate. The absence of LD within this group of phages is consistent with expectations for a completely sexual population, despite the fact that some segments have >50% nucleotide divergence at 4-fold degenerate sites. This extraordinary rate of genetic exchange between highly unrelated individuals is unprecedented in any taxa. We discuss our results in light of the biological species concept applied to viruses.

MeSH Terms
Bacteriophages/genetics Cystoviridae/genetics Genetic Variation Genome, Viral Linkage Disequilibrium Models, Genetic Molecular Sequence Data Mutation Phylogeny Polymerase Chain Reaction RNA/genetics RNA, Double-Stranded/chemistry Recombination, Genetic Sequence Analysis, DNA Species Specificity Viruses/genetics
Chemicals
RNA, Double-Stranded RNA
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Silander Olin K
Department of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Weinreich Daniel M
Wright Kevin M
O'Keefe Kara J
Rang Camilla U
Turner Paul E
Chao Lin
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0503074102
Published
2005-12-27
Epub
2005-00-19
Pages
19009-14
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC1323146
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · F32 GM020736 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM207636 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
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External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0503074102 PMC Full Text View journal details
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