AI Article Synopsis
- Bacteriophages are viruses that rely on bacteria to reproduce but some have unique genetic codes that include reassigned stop codons, which are usually not compatible with bacterial translation systems.
- A study of 9,422 phage genomes revealed that this stop-codon recoding occurs in various phage groups that infect bacteria found in human and animal gut microbiota, especially in genes related to phage structure and cell lysis.
- The study suggests that these recoded stop codons may help delay the production of late-stage viral proteins, indicating that such changes can evolve quickly within closely related phage lineages.
Article Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) are obligate parasites that use host bacterial translation machinery to produce viral proteins. However, some phages have alternative genetic codes with reassigned stop codons that are predicted to be incompatible with bacterial translation systems. We analysed 9,422 phage genomes and found that stop-codon recoding has evolved in diverse clades of phages that infect bacteria present in both human and animal gut microbiota. Recoded stop codons are particularly over-represented in phage structural and lysis genes. We propose that recoded stop codons might function to prevent premature production of late-stage proteins. Stop-codon recoding has evolved several times in closely related lineages, which suggests that adaptive recoding can occur over very short evolutionary timescales.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9197471 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01128-6 | DOI Listing |
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