Genome sequences of Arthrobacter globiformis B-2979 phages MidnightRain and Gusanita.

Phages MidnightRain and Gusanita, with siphovirus morphology, were isolated on Arthrobacter globiformis B-2979. MidnightRain's genome consists of 53,674 bp, encoding 101 putative genes and 1 tRNA, whereas Gusanita's genome is 42,742 bp, encoding 68 putative genes and 2 tRNAs.

Genome Sequences of Arthrobacter globiformis B-2979 Phages GlobiWarming and TaylorSipht.

Phages GlobiWarming and TaylorSipht are siphoviruses isolated on Arthrobacter globiformis B-2979. GlobiWarming has a 42,691 bp long genome that encodes 74 genes, whereas TaylorSipht has a 39,051 bp genome that encodes 65 genes. Both phages encode functions typical of temperate phages, with each including an immunity repressor, integrase, and excise.

Genome Sequences of Mycobacterium smegmatis Phages Fefferhead and ShamWow.

Fefferhead and ShamWow are temperate mycobacteriophages in the K6 and E clusters, respectively. The length of the Fefferhead genome is 61,366 bp, with 98 predicted genes. The ShamWow genome has a length of 75,933 bp, with 143 predicted genes, 3 of which are duplicates.

Evidence for segment-nonspecific packaging of the influenza a virus genome.

The influenza A virus genome is composed of eight negative-sense RNA segments (called vRNAs), all of which must be packaged to produce an infectious virion. It is not clear whether individual vRNAs are packaged specifically or at random, however, and the total vRNA capacity of the virion is unknown. We have created modified forms of the viral nucleoprotein (NP), neuraminidase (NA), and nonstructural (NS) vRNAs that encode green or yellow fluorescent proteins and studied the efficiency with which these are packaged by using a plasmid-based influenza A virus assembly system. Packaging was assessed precisely and quantitatively by scoring transduction of the fluorescent markers in a single-round infectivity assay with a flow cytometer. We found that, under conditions in which virions are limiting, pairs of alternatively tagged vRNAs compete for packaging but do so in a nonspecific manner. Reporters representing different vRNAs were not packaged additively, as would be expected under specific packaging, but instead appeared to compete for a common niche in the virion. Moreover, 3 to 5% of transduction-competent viruses were found to incorporate two alternative reporters, regardless of whether those reporters represented the same or different vRNAs - a finding compatible with random, but not with specific, packaging. Probabilistic estimates suggest that in order to achieve this level of dual transduction by chance alone, each influenza A virus virion must package an average of 9 to 11 vRNAs.