Prophage
A prophage is a bacteriophage genome. It is part of the circular bacterial DNA chromosome, or it is a plasmid outside the circular chromosome..
This is a latent form of a phage: the viral genes are there in the bacterium but cause no disruption of the bacterial cell.
Pro means "before", so, prophage means the stage of a virus inserted into host DNA before being activated inside the host.[1]
Prophages are important agents of horizontal gene transfer.[2]
References
- ↑ Fortier, L.C.; Sekulovic, O. (2013). "Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens". Virulence. 4 (5): 354–365. doi:10.4161/viru.24498. PMC 3714127. PMID 23611873.
- ↑ Krupovic M, Prangishvili D, Hendrix RW, Bamford DH (2011). "Genomics of bacterial and archaeal viruses: dynamics within the prokaryotic virosphere". Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. 75 (4): 610–635. doi:10.1128/MMBR.00011-11. PMC 3232739. PMID 22126996.
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