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Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens

Bacteriophages, or simply phages, are viruses infecting bacteria. With an estimated 10(31) particles in the biosphere, phages outnumber bacteria by a factor of at least 10 and not surprisingly, they influence the evolution of most bacterial species, sometimes in unexpected ways. “Temperate” phages h...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fortier, Louis-Charles, Sekulovic, Ognjen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Landes Bioscience 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714127/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23611873
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/viru.24498
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author Fortier, Louis-Charles
Sekulovic, Ognjen
author_facet Fortier, Louis-Charles
Sekulovic, Ognjen
author_sort Fortier, Louis-Charles
collection PubMed
description Bacteriophages, or simply phages, are viruses infecting bacteria. With an estimated 10(31) particles in the biosphere, phages outnumber bacteria by a factor of at least 10 and not surprisingly, they influence the evolution of most bacterial species, sometimes in unexpected ways. “Temperate” phages have the ability to integrate into the chromosome of their host upon infection, where they can reside as “quiescent” prophages until conditions favor their reactivation. Lysogenic conversion resulting from the integration of prophages encoding powerful toxins is probably the most determinant contribution of prophages to the evolution of pathogenic bacteria. We currently grasp only a small fraction of the total phage diversity. Phage biologists keep unraveling novel mechanisms developed by phages to parasitize their host. The purpose of this review is to give an overview of some of the various ways by which prophages change the lifestyle and boost virulence of some of the most dangerous bacterial pathogens.
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spelling pubmed-37141272013-07-26 Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens Fortier, Louis-Charles Sekulovic, Ognjen Virulence Review Bacteriophages, or simply phages, are viruses infecting bacteria. With an estimated 10(31) particles in the biosphere, phages outnumber bacteria by a factor of at least 10 and not surprisingly, they influence the evolution of most bacterial species, sometimes in unexpected ways. “Temperate” phages have the ability to integrate into the chromosome of their host upon infection, where they can reside as “quiescent” prophages until conditions favor their reactivation. Lysogenic conversion resulting from the integration of prophages encoding powerful toxins is probably the most determinant contribution of prophages to the evolution of pathogenic bacteria. We currently grasp only a small fraction of the total phage diversity. Phage biologists keep unraveling novel mechanisms developed by phages to parasitize their host. The purpose of this review is to give an overview of some of the various ways by which prophages change the lifestyle and boost virulence of some of the most dangerous bacterial pathogens. Landes Bioscience 2013-07-01 2013-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC3714127/ /pubmed/23611873 http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/viru.24498 Text en Copyright © 2013 Landes Bioscience http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. The article may be redistributed, reproduced, and reused for non-commercial purposes, provided the original source is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Fortier, Louis-Charles
Sekulovic, Ognjen
Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title_full Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title_fullStr Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title_full_unstemmed Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title_short Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
title_sort importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714127/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23611873
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/viru.24498
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