GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAMBDOID, TB & OTHER BACTERIOPHAGES

dsDNA噬菌体是生物圈中数量最多的进化生物分类群。然而，它们的分类仍然不清楚，它们之间的相互关系也知之甚少。通过全基因组测序对这些dsDNA噬菌体的表征提供了这些关系的更详细信息，并提供了一幅新兴的图景，即基本上所有dsDNA尾噬菌体都具有共同的祖先，即使它们感染不同的宿主并且具有不同的病毒形态。噬菌体基因组的比较也表明，它们是由一系列连接成功能群的遗传模块构成的，本质上是镶嵌的。但是，不知道有多少不同的模块段，也不知道每个模块有多少变体。此外，交换发生的机制还有待明确阐明。我们建议通过噬菌体基因组的测序和序列、基因组组织和功能关系的比较来研究噬菌体的进化过程。此外，我们建议对未选择的噬菌体种群进行调查，以便更广泛地了解自然存在于环境中的噬菌体的多样性。更复杂的软件系统将被开发出来，这将大大简化数据分析步骤，并为基因组比较提供自动化方法。这些研究不仅将导致对病毒进化机制的新见解，而且将为其他研究人员提供宝贵的资源，包括那些研究基础噬菌体生物学如DNA复制，基因表达和大分子组装以及那些对噬菌体应用于临床问题如诊断和噬菌体治疗感兴趣的研究人员。

The dsDNA bacteriophages are the most numerous taxon of evolving organisms in the biosphere. However, their classification remains unclear and their inter-relationships are poorly understood. Characterization of these dsDNA phages by whole genome sequencing provide more detailed information of these relationships and provides an emerging picture in which essentially all dsDNA tailed bacteriophages have shared ancestry, even through they infect different hosts and have varied viral morphologies. Comparison of phage genomes also shows that they are constructed from a series of genetic modules that are joined into functional groups and they are essentially mosaic in nature. However, it is not known how many different modular segments there are, or how many variants exist of each module. Moreover, the mechanisms by which exchange occurs have yet to be clearly elucidated. We propose to investigate the process of phage evolution through the sequencing of phage genomes and comparisons of sequences, genome organization and function relationships. In addition, we propose to survey unselected phage populations in order to obtain a broader view of the diversity of bacteriophages that naturally exist in the environment. More sophisticated software systems will be developed that will greatly simplify the data analysis steps and provide automated methods for genome comparisons. These studies will not only lead to new insights into the mechanisms of viral evolution but will provide a valuable resource for other researchers, including those studying basic phage biology such as DNA replication, gene expression and macromolecular assembly as well as those interested in the application of phages to clinical problems, such as diagnosis and phage therapy.