The phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) are a family of highly mobile genetic
elements that contribute substantively to horizontal gene transfer, host adaptation, and …

Molecular piracy is a biological phenomenon in which one replicon (the pirate) uses the
structural proteins encoded by another replicon (the helper) to package its own genome and …

Living cells compartmentalize materials and enzymatic reactions to increase metabolic
efficiency. While eukaryotes use membrane‐bound organelles, bacteria and archaea rely …

Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of infections in humans. The emergence of
virulent, antibiotic-resistant strains of S. aureus is a significant public health concern. Most …

For many (if not all) bacterial and archaeal tailed viruses and eukaryotic Herpesvirdae the
HK97-fold serves as the major architectural element in icosahedral capsid formation while …

Tailed phages are viruses that infect bacteria and are the most abundant biological entities
on Earth. Their ecological, evolutionary, and biogeochemical roles in the planet stem from …

Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs), such as SaPI1, exploit specific helper
bacteriophages, like 80α, for their high frequency mobilization, a process termed 'molecular …

Coat proteins of tailed, dsDNA phages and in herpesviruses include a conserved core
similar to the bacteriophage HK97 subunit. This core is often embellished with other …

For a machine to function, it must first be assembled. The morphogenesis of the simplest
icosahedral virus would require only 60 copies of a single capsid protein to coalesce. If the …

SaPIs are molecular pirates that exploit helper bacteriophages for their own high frequency
mobilization. One striking feature of helper exploitation by SaPIs is redirection of the phage …