Bacteriophage evolution differs by host, lifestyle and genome

Bacteriophages play key roles in microbial evolution1,2, marine nutrient cycling3 and human disease4. Phages are genetically diverse, and their genome architectures are characteristically mosaic, driven by horizontal gene transfer with other phages and host genomes5. As a consequence, phage evolution is complex and their genomes are composed of genes with distinct and varied evolutionary histories6,7. However, there are conflicting perspectives...