Understanding the nature of, and mechanisms underpinning, the almost unfathomable array of phenomena responsible for the rapid and incessant evolution of bacteriophages, is not only of paramount importance to the understanding of such processes in higher organisms, but also gives us fleeting insights into the inception and dissemination of the genetic novelty for which these majestic entities are well known. In addition, knowledge of such phenomena may hold the potential to produce polyvalent therapeutic cocktails through laboratory evolution of select species.
The phiKMVlikeviruses represent an extremely heterogenous assemblage of T7-like phages, the most well known of which infect the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa; a significant source of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis patients. Thus far, known only to be of a strictly lytic nature, they also hold the potential to be utilised within a clinical setting.
We firstly present an up to date view of the phiKMVlikeviruses, highlighting their widespread nature before looking at both inter- and intraspecies evolutionary mechanisms operating within this group, keeping their genomes in a constant state of flux, and finally, discuss the implications of such processes.