Mutation rate of bacteriophage ΦX174 modified through changes in GATC sequence context

Bacteriophage Phi X174 has a relatively high mutation rate of 10(-6) substitutions per nucleotide per strand copying. A thirty-fold reduction in the mutation rate was achieved by introducing seven GATC sequences in its genome. This motif allows for methyl-directed mismatch repair and is strongly avoided in nature by Phi X174 and other phages. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.