ArticlePLoS genetics2013
Manipulating or superseding host recombination functions: a dilemma that shapes phage evolvability.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phage therapy: from basic biology to clinical application.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- ETfinder: harnessing conserved C-terminal tails of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins for mining and engineering RecET systems in non-model microbial chassis.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Modular plug-and-play engineering of Klebsiella phages with dual receptor-binding proteins for efficient host range design.Journal of biological engineering · 2026Article
- Genetic Exchanges Shape the Evolutionary Diversification Among Shigella phages.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Biocontrol of Phage Resistance inViruses · 2025Review
- Lambdoid phages with abundant Chi recombination hotspots reflect diverse viral strategies for recombination-dependent growth.Genome research · 2025Article
- New groups of highly divergent proteins in families as old as cellular life with important biological functions in the ocean.Environmental microbiome · 2025Article
- Inhibitors of bacterial immune systems: discovery, mechanisms and applications.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2024Review
- Phage tailspike modularity and horizontal gene transfer reveals specificity towards E. coli O-antigen serogroups.Virology journal · 2023Article
- Bacteriophage strategies for overcoming host antiviral immunity.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Article
- Genomic structural plasticity of rodent-associated Bartonella in nature.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Microbial defenses against mobile genetic elements and viruses: Who defends whom from what?PLoS biology · 2022Article
- RecBCD enzyme and Chi recombination hotspots as determinants of self vs. non-self: Myths and mechanisms.Advances in genetics · 2022Article
- Genome structural variation inMicrobial genomics · 2021Article
- Viral recombination systems limit CRISPR-Cas targeting through the generation of escape mutations.Cell host & microbe · 2021Article
- Article
- Bi- and Multi-directional Gene Transfer in the Natural Populations of Polyvalent Bacteriophages, and Their Host Species Spectrum Representing Foodborne Versus Other Human and/or Animal Pathogens.Food and environmental virology · 2021Article
- Pervasive prophage recombination occurs during evolution of spore-forming Bacilli.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Phages, like many parasites, tend to have small genomes and may encode autonomous functions or manipulate those of their hosts'. Recombination functions are essential for phage replication and diversification. They are also nearly ubiquitous in bacteria. The E. coli genome encodes many copies of an octamer (Chi) motif that upon recognition by RecBCD favors repair of double strand breaks by homologous recombination. This might allow self from non-self discrimination because RecBCD degrades DNA lacking Chi. Bacteriophage Lambda, an E. coli parasite, lacks Chi motifs, but escapes degradation by inhibiting RecBCD and encoding its own autonomous recombination machinery. We found that only half of 275 lambdoid genomes encode recombinases, the remaining relying on the host's machinery. Unexpectedly, we found that some lambdoid phages contain extremely high numbers of Chi motifs concentrated between the phage origin of replication and the packaging site. This suggests a tight association between replication, packaging and RecBCD-mediated recombination in these phages. Indeed, phages lacking recombinases strongly over-represent Chi motifs. Conversely, phages encoding recombinases and inhibiting host recombination machinery select for the absence of Chi motifs. Host and phage recombinases use different mechanisms and the latter are more tolerant to sequence divergence. Accordingly, we show that phages encoding their own recombination machinery have more mosaic genomes resulting from recent recombination events and have more diverse gene repertoires, i.e. larger pan genomes. We discuss the costs and benefits of superseding or manipulating host recombination functions and how this decision shapes phage genome structure and evolvability.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.