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It is estimated there are more than 10 31 bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other organism on Earth, including bacteria, combined. [4] Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in the water column of the world's oceans, and the second largest component of biomass after prokaryotes, [5] where up to 9x10 8 virions per millilitre ...
Phage injecting its genome into bacterial cell An electron micrograph of bacteriophages attached to a bacterial cell. These viruses are the size and shape of coliphage T1. Phage therapy, viral phage therapy, or phagotherapy is the therapeutic use of bacteriophages for the treatment of pathogenic bacterial infections.
This is a last resort option- when the host cell has already been infected by the phage. This method is not ideal for the host cell, as it still leads to its death. The redeeming feature of this mechanism is the fact that it interferes with the phage processes and prevents it from then moving on to infect other cells. [16]
Biosynthesis – the phage DNA replicates inside the cell, synthesizing new phage DNA and proteins; Maturation – the replicated material assembles into fully formed viral phages (each made up of a head, a tail and tail fibers) Lysis - cell wall or membrane ruptures, disintegrating it and releasing the virus in the process
Most of these viruses are bacteriophages which infect and destroy marine bacteria and control the growth of phytoplankton at the base of the marine food web. Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals but are essential to the regulation of marine ecosystems. They supply key mechanisms for recycling ocean carbon and nutrients.
Several bacteriophages contain toxin genes that become incorporated into the host bacteria genome through infection and render the bacteria toxic. [9] Many well known bacterial toxins are produced from specific strains of the bacteria species that have obtained toxigenicity through lysogenic conversion, pseudolysogeny, or horizontal gene ...
Bacteriophages (Greek for 'bacteria eater'), or simply phages, are viruses which infect bacteria. [15] The idea of using phages against unwanted bacteria developed shortly after their discovery. With the improvements in organic chemistry during the 1950s, exploration and development of broad spectrum antibiotics displaced interest in ...
Plant pathogens, organisms that cause infectious plant diseases, include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroids, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes and parasitic plants. [2] In most plant pathosystems, virulence depends on hydrolases and enzymes that degrade the cell wall.