Genomic analysis of a large set of phages infecting the common host Mycobacterium
smegmatis mc2155 shows that they span considerable genetic diversity. There are more
than 20 distinct types that lack nucleotide similarity with each other, and there is
considerable diversity within most of the groups. Three newly isolated temperate
mycobacteriophages, Bongo, PegLeg, and Rey, constitute a new group (cluster M), with the
closely related phages Bongo and PegLeg forming subcluster M1 and the more distantly …

Background The large collection of sequenced mycobacteriophage genomes shows them to
be genetically diverse and to encode large numbers of genes of unknown function.
Mycobacteriophages with genomes lacking nucleotide similarity to those previously
described continue to be isolated and characterized.