Moron (bacteriophage)

A moron, in the context of bacteriophage genetics, is an extra gene in a prophage genome without a function in the phage's lysogenic cycle.^[1] These genes may code for products beneficial to the phage's bacterial host, as with the example of gp15 of phage HK97 serving as a superinfection exclusion protein. The term moron comes from the notion that the additional genes mean that these bacteriophage genomes have "more on" them.^[2]

References

↑ Harald Brüssow, Carlos Canchaya, and Wolf-Dietrich Hardt. Phages and the Evolution of Bacterial Pathogens: from Genomic Rearrangements to Lysogenic Conversion. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2004 September; 68(3): 560–602.
↑ Cumby, N; Davidson, AR; Maxwell, KL (2012). "The moron comes of age". Bacteriophage. 2 (4): 225–228. doi:10.4161/bact.23146. PMC 3594210. PMID 23739268.

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[1] Harald Brüssow, Carlos Canchaya, and Wolf-Dietrich Hardt. Phages and the Evolution of Bacterial Pathogens: from Genomic Rearrangements to Lysogenic Conversion. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2004 September; 68(3): 560–602.

[2] Cumby, N; Davidson, AR; Maxwell, KL (2012). "The moron comes of age". Bacteriophage. 2 (4): 225–228. doi:10.4161/bact.23146. PMC 3594210. PMID 23739268.