Perfilyev et al.: 119,510 lytic phage genomes found in 3.6 million bacterial genome assemblies (Nature Microbiology)

Perfilyev and colleagues analysed 3.6 million bacterial genome assemblies from 1,226 species in Nature Microbiology and found 119,510 lytic phage genomes, which they call bacterial assembly-associated phage sequences, a roughly five-fold increase in phages with associated hosts. The set includes previously undescribed phage clusters, expands genera such as Seoulvirus from 16 to more than 300 members, and contains close relatives of therapeutically used lytic phages, suggesting that clinical isolate sequencing unknowingly archives potential phage candidates.