T5-like phage BF23 evades host restriction-modification and methylation

Researchers at Skoltech report the full genome sequence and virion protein content of Escherichia coli phage BF23, a close relative of T5 that was isolated in the mid-twentieth century. BF23 resists Types I/II/III restriction-modification systems when their recognition sites lie outside its terminal repeats and avoids host-mediated methylation, which the authors propose is a common feature of Tequintavirus and Epseptimavirus phages.