There is currently a handful of genome sequences available for tailed bacteriophages with genomes of more than 200 kbp of DNA, designated here as giant or jumbo phages. The majority of the proteins predicted from the genome sequences of these phages have no matches in the current sequence databases, and the genomes themselves are diverse enough to preclude the sorts of detailed comparative analysis that has benefited study of the smaller phages, for which hundreds of genome sequences are available. However, it is informative to extrapolate the better known genome organizations and mechanisms of evolution seen in the smaller phages to the jumbo phages. In this way, we see that the jumbo phages encode the same functions as the smaller phages, supplemented with large numbers of mostly small genes of mostly undiscovered functions. A case can be made that the jumbo phages evolved from smaller tailed phages, possibly in a process mediated by the constraints imposed on genome size by capsid size.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Black LW, Showe MK, Steven AC (1994) Morphogenesis of the T4 head. In: Karam JD (ed) Molecular biology of Bacteriophage T4. ASM, Washington, DC, pp 218–258
Caspar DLD, Klug A (1962) Physical principles in the construction of regular viruses. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 27:1–24
Cathopoulis T, Chuawong P, Hendrickson TL (2007) Novel tRNA aminoacylation mechanisms. Mol Biosyst 3:408–418
Claverie JM (2006) Viruses take center stage in cellular evolution. Genome Biol 7:110
Comeau AM, Bertrand C, Letarov A, Tetart F, Krisch HM (2007) Modular architecture of the T4 phage superfamily: a conserved core genome and a plastic periphery. Virology 362:384–396
Filee J, Bapteste E, Susko E, Krisch HM (2006) A selective barrier to horizontal gene transfer in the T4-type bacteriophages that has preserved a core genome with the viral replication and structural genes. Mol Biol Evol 23:1688–1696
Fokine A, Leiman PG, Shneider MM, Ahvazi B, Boeshans KM, Steven AC et al (2005) Structural and functional similarities between the capsid proteins of bacteriophages T4 and HK97 point to a common ancestry. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:7163–7168
Hatfull GF, Pedulla ML, Jacobs-Sera D, Cichon PM, Foley A, Ford ME et al (2006) Exploring the mycobacteriophage metaproteome: phage genomics as an educational platform. PLoS Genet 2:e92
Hendrix RW (2002) Bacteriophages: evolution of the majority. Theor Popul Biol 61:471–480
Hertveldt K, Lavigne R, Pleteneva E, Sernova N, Kurochkina L, Korchevskii R et al (2005) Genome comparison ofPseudomonas aeruginosalarge phages. J Mol Biol 354:536–545
Juhala RJ, Ford ME, Duda RL, Youlton A, Hatfull GF, Hendrix RW (2000) Genomic sequences of bacteriophages HK97 and HK022: pervasive genetic mosaicism in the lambdoid bacteri-ophages. J Mol Biol 299:27–51
Lee S, Kriakov J, Vilcheze C, Dai Z, Hatfull GF, Jacobs WR Jr (2004) Bxz1, a new generalized transducing phage for mycobacteria. FEMS Microbiol Lett 241:271–276
Mann NH, Cook A, Millard A, Bailey S, Clokie M (2003) Marine ecosystems: bacterial photosynthesis genes in a virus. Nature 424:741
Serwer P, Hayes SJ, Thomas JA, Hardies SC (2007) Propagating the missing bacteriophages: a large bacteriophage in a new class. Virol J 4:21
Sun M, Serwer P (1997) The conformation of DNA packaged in bacteriophage G. Biophys J 72:958–963
Suttle CA (2005) Viruses in the sea. Nature 437:356–361
Suttle CA (2007) Marine viruses — major players in the global ecosystem. Nat Rev Microbiol 5:801–812
Weigele PR, Pope WH, Pedulla ML, Houtz JM, Smith AL, Conway JF et al (2007) Genomic and structural analysis of Syn9, a cyanophage infecting marine Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus. Environ Microbiol 9:1675–1695
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hendrix, R.W. (2009). Jumbo Bacteriophages. In: Van Etten, J.L. (eds) Lesser Known Large dsDNA Viruses. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 328. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68618-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68618-7_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-68617-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68618-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)