Moron (bacteriophage) explained

A moron, in the context of bacteriophage genetics, is an extra gene in a prophage genome without a function in the phage's lysogenic cycle.^[1] These genes may code for products beneficial to the phage's bacterial host, as with the example of gp15 of phage HK97 serving as a superinfection exclusion protein. The term moron comes from the notion that the additional genes mean that these bacteriophage genomes have "more on" them.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Brüssow . Harald . Canchaya . Carlos . Hardt . Wolf-Dietrich . September 2004 . Phages and the Evolution of Bacterial Pathogens: from Genomic Rearrangements to Lysogenic Conversion . Microbiol Mol Biol Rev . 68 . 3. 560–602 . 10.1128/mmbr.68.3.560-602.2004. 15353570 . 515249 .
2. Cumby. N. Davidson. AR. Maxwell. KL. The moron comes of age. Bacteriophage. 2012. 2. 4. 225–228. 23739268. 10.4161/bact.23146. 3594210.