Biology:Moron (bacteriophage)

From HandWiki

A moron, in the context of bacteriophage genetics, is an extra gene in a prophage genome without a function in the phage's lysogenic cycle.[1] These genes may code for products beneficial to the phage's bacterial host, as with the example of gp15 of phage HK97 serving as a superinfection exclusion protein. The term moron comes from the notion that the additional genes mean that these bacteriophage genomes have "more on" them.[2]

References

  1. Brüssow, Harald; Canchaya, Carlos; Hardt, Wolf-Dietrich (September 2004). "Phages and the Evolution of Bacterial Pathogens: from Genomic Rearrangements to Lysogenic Conversion". Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 68 (3): 560–602. doi:10.1128/mmbr.68.3.560-602.2004. PMID 15353570. 
  2. Cumby, N; Davidson, AR; Maxwell, KL (2012). "The moron comes of age". Bacteriophage 2 (4): 225–228. doi:10.4161/bact.23146. PMID 23739268.