PhageTerm: a tool for fast and accurate determination of phage termini and packaging mechanism using next-generation sequencing data

The worrying rise of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is leading to a renewed interest in bacteriophages as a treatment option. Novel sequencing technologies enable description of an increasing number of phage genomes, a critical piece of information to understand their life cycle, phage-host interactions, and evolution. In this work, we demonstrate how it is possible to recover more information from sequencing data than just the phage genome. We developed a theoretical and statistical framework to determine DNA termini and phage packaging mechanisms using NGS data. Our method relies on the detection of biases in the number of reads, which are observable at natural DNA termini compared with the…

• AN
  Agence Nationale de la Recherche

  Awards: 10-LABX-62-IBEID, ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID, ANR-10, ANR-10-LABX-62
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada