Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Bacteriophages are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere. [2] Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viruses, found wherever bacteria exist. [3] It is estimated there are more than 10 31 bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other organism on Earth, including bacteria, combined. [4]
Bacteriophages , potentially the most numerous "organisms" on Earth, are the viruses of bacteria (more generally, of prokaryotes [1]). Phage ecology is the study of the interaction of bacteriophages with their environments .
The dominant hosts for viruses in the ocean are marine microorganisms, such as bacteria. [14] Bacteriophages are harmless to plants and animals, and are essential to the regulation of marine and freshwater ecosystems [91] are important mortality agents of phytoplankton, the base of the foodchain in aquatic environments. [92]
Phage therapy is the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. Bacteriophage treatment offers a possible alternative to conventional antibiotic treatments for bacterial infection. [55] It is conceivable that, although bacteria can develop resistance to phages, the resistance might be easier to overcome than resistance to antibiotics.
There is evidence that 3.45-billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Microbes are important in human culture and health in many ways, serving to ferment foods and treat sewage , and to produce fuel , enzymes , and other bioactive compounds .
Filamentous bacteriophages are a family of viruses (Inoviridae) that infect bacteria, or bacteriophages. They are named for their filamentous shape, a worm-like chain (long, thin, and flexible, reminiscent of a length of cooked spaghetti), about 6 nm in diameter and about 1000-2000 nm long.
Enterobacteria phage λ (lambda phage, coliphage λ, officially Escherichia virus Lambda) is a bacterial virus, or bacteriophage, that infects the bacterial species Escherichia coli (E. coli). It was discovered by Esther Lederberg in 1950. [ 2 ]
Bacteria (/ b æ k ˈ t ɪər i ə / ⓘ; sg.: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats.