Streptococcus pneumoniae: a Plethora of Temperate Bacteriophages With a Role in Host Genome Rearrangement.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. They are the most abundant biological entity on Earth (current estimates suggest there to be perhaps 10³¹ particles) and are found nearly everywhere. Temperate phages can integrate into the chromosome of their host, and prophages have been found in abundance in sequenced bacterial genomes. Prophages may modulate the virulence of their host in different ways, e.g., by the secretion of phage-encoded toxins or by mediating bacterial infectivity. Some 70% of Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus)-a frequent cause of otitis media, pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis-isolates harbor one or more prophages. In the present study, over 4000 S. pneumoniae genomes were examined for the presence of prophages, and n

SUBMITTER: Martin-Galiano AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8637289 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature