ArticleVirus evolution2022
Formal recognition and classification of gene transfer agents as viriforms.
Article in Virus evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perturbations shift the composition of bacterial DNA carried by virus-like particles in the murine gut microbiome.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Large-scale capsid-mediated mobilisation of bacterial genomic DNA in the gut microbiome.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Targeting Horizontal Gene Transfer to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: A Review of Mechanisms, Drivers, and Multi-Omics Strategies.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Review
- Interactions and evolutionary relationships among bacterial mobile genetic elements.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Naturally competent bacteria and their genetic parasites-a battle for control over horizontal gene transfer?FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Sneaky tactics: Ingenious immune evasion mechanisms ofVirulence · 2024Review
- Co-evolution of gene transfer agents and their alphaproteobacterial hosts.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- Changes to virus taxonomy and the ICTV Statutes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2023).Archives of virology · 2023Article
- Viriforms-A New Category of Classifiable Virus-Derived Genetic Elements.Biomolecules · 2023Article
- Selection for Translational Efficiency in Genes Associated with Alphaproteobacterial Gene Transfer Agents.mSystems · 2022Article
- DNA Gyrase Inhibitors Increase the Frequency of Bacteriophage-like RcGTA-Mediated Gene Transfer inGenes · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Morphological and genetic features strongly suggest that gene transfer agents (GTAs) are caudoviricete-derived entities that have evolved in concert with cellular genomes to such a degree that they should not be considered viruses. Indeed, GTA particles resemble caudoviricete virions, but, in contrast to caudoviricetes (or any viruses), GTAs can encapsidate at best only part of their own genomes, are induced solely in small subpopulations of prokaryotic host cells, and are transmitted vertically as part of cellular genomes during replication and division. Therefore, the lifecycles of GTAs are analogous to virus-derived entities found in the parasitoid wasps, which have recently been recognized as non-virus entities and therefore reclassified as viriforms. We evaluated three distinct, independently exapted GTA groups, for which the genetic basis for GTA particle production has been established. Based on the evidence, we outline a classification scheme for these viriforms.
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Registered trials
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.