The coevolution of large and small terminases of bacteriophages is a result of purifying selection leading to phenotypic stabilization.

Abstract excerpt

Genome packaging in many dsDNA phages requires a series of precisely coordinated actions of two phage-coded proteins, namely, large terminase (TerL) and small terminase (TerS) with DNA and ATP, and with each other. Despite the strict functional conservation, TerL and TerS homologs exhibit large sequence variations. We investigated the sequence variability across eight phage types and observed a coevolutionary...

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