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Rampant prophage movement among transient competitors drives rapid adaptation during infection
- Source :
- Science Advances
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Bacteriophages are rapidly shared among hosts and act as key genetic regulators for establishing chronic infections.<br />Interactions between bacteria, their close competitors, and viral parasites are common in infections, but understanding of these eco-evolutionary dynamics is limited. Most examples of adaptations caused by phage lysogeny are through the acquisition of new genes. However, integrated prophages can also insert into functional genes and impart a fitness benefit by disrupting their expression, a process called active lysogeny. Here, we show that active lysogeny can fuel rapid, parallel adaptations in establishing a chronic infection. These recombination events repeatedly disrupted genes encoding global regulators, leading to increased cyclic di-GMP levels and elevated biofilm production. The implications of prophage-mediated adaptation are broad, as even transient members of microbial communities can alter the course of evolution and generate persistent phenotypes associated with poor clinical outcomes.
- Subjects :
- Functional genes
Microbial Ecology
Bacteriophage
03 medical and health sciences
Lysogenic cycle
Genetics
2.1 Biological and endogenous factors
Gene
Research Articles
Prophage
030304 developmental biology
2 Aetiology
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
biology
030306 microbiology
Biofilm
SciAdv r-articles
biology.organism_classification
Phenotype
Chronic infection
Infectious Diseases
Adaptation
Infection
Research Article
Biotechnology
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science Advances
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....22886bedb1de37cdf84de2c46411eed2