A moron, in the context of

bacteriophage A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a ''phage'' (), is a duplodnaviria virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. The term was derived from "bacteria" and the Greek φαγεῖν ('), meaning "to devour". Bact ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar worki ...

, is an extra gene in a prophage genome without a function in the phage's

lysogenic cycle Lysogeny, or the lysogenic cycle, is one of two cycles of viral reproduction (the lytic cycle being the other). Lysogeny is characterized by integration of the bacteriophage nucleic acid into the host bacterium's genome or formation of a circu ...

. These genes may code for products beneficial to the phage's bacterial host, as with the example of gp15 of phage

HK97 ''Escherichia virus HK97'', often shortened to HK97, is a species of virus that infects ''Escherichia coli'' and related bacteria. It is named after Hong Kong (HK), where it was first located. HK97 has a double-stranded DNA genome. Assembly and ...

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.

References

DNA Bacteriophages {{virus-stub