Genetic recombination-mediated evolutionary interactions between phages of potential industrial importance and prophages of their hosts within or across the domains of Escherichia, Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus.

Background: The in-depth understanding of the role of lateral genetic transfer (LGT) in phage-prophage interactions is essential to rationalizing phage applications for human and animal therapy, as well as for food and environmental safety. This in silico study aimed to detect LGT between phages of potential industrial importance and their hosts.

Methods: A large array of genetic recombination detection algorithms, implemented in SplitsTree and RDP4, was applied to detect LGT between various Escherichia, Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, and Vibrio phages and their hosts.

Evolutionary analysis of rabies virus isolates from Georgia.

Genetic relationships between rabies virus (RABV) isolates recovered from dogs, jackals, and cattle in Georgia and their closest relatives were investigated by comparing their nucleoprotein (N) gene sequences. Multiple isolates from dogs and cattle were found to share identical N gene sequences, indicating a risk of dog-to-cattle rabies transmission in Georgia. Exhibiting population-selective sweeps, expansion, and genetic recombination, evolutionary analysis of Georgian RABV isolates (all belonging to the cosmopolitan clade) and isolates from Russia, Turkey, and elsewhere provided further evidence for coinfections with different rabies virus strains and transborder transmission.