oles in some SaPI-helper phage pairs than others.
These same researchers also presented preliminary evidence of yet another interference tactic that involves neither small capsid production or ppi. This mechanism is as yet unknown. This will be number four. Likely it won’t be the last. Helper exploitation has evolved repeatedly, employing a variety of tactics. Exploitation of phage P2 by satellite phage P4 also involves the assembly of small capsids by P4, but the mechanism here is different. There are also helpers and helpees among the eukaryotic viruses (e.g., the adeno-associated virus and Sputnik). There are bound to be many more out there just waiting to be discovered. Kleptoparasitism pays!
Ram G, Chen J, Kumar K, Ross HF, Ubeda C, Damle PK, Lane KD, Penadés JR, Christie GE, & Novick RP (2012). Staphylococcal pathogenicity island interference with helper phage reproduction is a paradigm of molecular parasitism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (40), 16300-5 PMID: 22991467