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Structural model at atomic resolution of bacteriophage T4 [1] The structure of a typical myovirus bacteriophage Anatomy and infection cycle of bacteriophage T4.. A bacteriophage (/ b æ k ˈ t ɪər i oʊ f eɪ dʒ /), also known informally as a phage (/ ˈ f eɪ dʒ /), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea.
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]
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 .
Phage typing is based on the specific binding of phages to antigens and receptors on the surface of bacteria and the resulting bacterial lysis or lack thereof. [4] The binding process is known as adsorption. [5] Once a phage adsorbs to the surface of a bacteria, it may undergo either the lytic cycle or the lysogenic cycle. [6]
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
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 ...
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.
The wild type of this virus has a temperate life cycle that allows it to either reside within the genome of its host through lysogeny or enter into a lytic phase, during which it kills and lyses the cell to produce offspring. Lambda strains, mutated at specific sites, are unable to lysogenize cells; instead, they grow and enter the lytic cycle ...