%0 Journal Article
%T The use of genomic signature distance between bacteriophages and their hosts displays evolutionary relationships and phage growth cycle determination
%A Patrick Deschavanne
%A Michael S DuBow
%A Christophe Regeard
%J Virology Journal
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1743-422x-7-163
%X Here, we proposed to use genome sequence signature to characterize bacteriophages and to compare them to their host genome signature in order to obtain host-phage relationships and information on their lifestyle. We analyze the host-phage relationships in the four most representative groups of Caudoviridae, the dsDNA group of phages. We demonstrate that the use of phage genomic signature and its comparison with that of the host allows a grouping of phages and is also able to predict the host-phage relationships (lytic vs. temperate).We can thus condense, in relatively simple figures, this phage information dispersed over many publications.Bacteriophages are the most abundant biological entities on Earth and their total population is estimated at approximately 1031 particles on earth [1]. In comparison with the estimated 1030 bacterial cells in the biosphere [2], there are thus 10 virus particles for each putative host [3,4]. In aquatic or terrestrial samples, 106 to 107 viral particles per milliliter of water or gram of soil are regularly reported. Moreover, these viruses are highly dynamic, leading to approximately 1023 infections per second [5]. The study of phage diversity is crucial for understanding an ecosystem. For instance, the concept of "killing the winner" has been proposed to explain how phage propagation can control host diversity and abundance [6].Bacteriophages also participate in the evolution of their bacterial hosts. Horizontal transfer of genes from phage to host and vice versa has been well documented [7,8]. Temperate bacteriophages have the capacity to integrate their DNA into that of the host and can also lead to lysogenic conversion in pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio cholerae [9]. Prophages have been shown to contribute to genome diversification [10] and in some environments, the majority of bacteria contains at least one prophage [4,11]. Lawrence et al, (2002) [12] calculated an average of 2.6 prophages per free living bacterial cell, some
%U http://www.virologyj.com/content/7/1/163