Communication among lysogens and its implications

Temperate phages undergo two developmental switches during their life-cycle; a lysis-lysogeny decision upon first invasion of their host, and the decision whether to persist in the genome or undergo lytic induction from the lysogenic phase. Several instances of phage communication influencing the lysis-lysogeny decision have been previously demonstrated. Mechanisms of communication wherein the phage particle itself functions as the signal have been known for some time, and more recently SPbeta-like phages were shown to utilize a small peptide as the signal of communication. As with previously discovered phage communication systems, this newly found system, termed the arbitrium system, also influences the lysis–lysogeny decision. In this work we focus on the lysogenic state, and explore the possibility of communication among lysogens – that is whether prophages can send a signal (a possibility opened up by the discovery of a peptide signal), and whether they can respond to this same signal. Specifically, we examine whether the switch to lytic induction may also be influenced by communication.