Although bacteriophages are the most numerous biological entity on Earth and are profoundly important for ecology, evolution and pathogenesis, far less is known about their genomics than for bacteria. This project by Drs. Ry Young and Carlos Gonzalez of Texas A and M University has two inter-dependent thrusts, one in basic science addressing this significant deficit in phage genomics, and one educational. The educational component is the established Program in Genomics for Undergraduates (PGU), established in 2001 at TAMU with prior NSF-USDA support. The scientific focus is to annotate 120 genomes of bacteriophages infectious for diverse environmental bacterial genera: Burkholderia, Rhodococcus, Xylella, Desulfovibrio, and Acinetobacter. The hosts in each of these genera were selected because of their environmental importance, i.e. causing plant, animal or human disease or causing corrosion. Genomic information about the phage of these various hosts may prove useful in biocontrol strategies. Comparative genomics of the phage genomes will also examine evolution of the genomes and evidence for lateral gene transfer events. Much of the laboratory work isolating phage from environmental samples and completing and annotating the phage genomic sequences is being done by the undergraduate participants of the PGU. The activities of the PGU include a lecture-laboratory course, Practical Genomics, which is open to junior and senior students in the life science majors. A significant fraction of the students in these courses are students from under-represented minority groups. The course provides lectures on the basics of bacteriophage biology and the fundamentals of genomics but also focuses on practical aspects of modern high-throughput DNA sequencing and the tools of genome annotation. The students are conducting the experiments and annotate the phage genomes in the context of this course. Many of the students will prepare manuscripts for publication.
