Prophage Finder: A Prophage Loci Prediction Tool for Prokaryotic Genome Sequences

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bose, M. | Barber, Robert D.

Affiliations: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI 53141-2000, USA

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Prophage loci often remain under-annotated or even unrecognized in prokaryotic genome sequencing projects. A PHP application, Prophage Finder, has been developed and implemented to predict prophage loci, based upon clusters of phage-related gene products encoded within DNA sequences. This application provides results detailing several facets of these clusters to facilitate rapid prediction and analysis of prophage sequences. Prophage Finder was tested using previously annotated prokaryotic genomic sequences with manually curated prophage loci as benchmarks. Additional analyses from Prophage Finder searches of several draft prokaryotic genome sequences are available through the Web site (http://bioinformatics.uwp.edu/~phage/DOEResults.php) to illustrate the potential of this application.

Keywords: Prophage, phage, microbial, prokaryote, genome annotation, curation, lysogen

Journal: In Silico Biology, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 223-227, 2006