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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.
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.
It is estimated viruses kill 20% of the microorganism biomass each day and that there are 15 times as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria and archaea. Viruses are the main agents responsible for the rapid destruction of harmful algal blooms , [ 106 ] which often kill other marine life. [ 107 ]
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 ...
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 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]
The interaction of phage with bacteria is the primary concern of phage community ecologists. Bacteria have developed mechanisms that prevent phages from having an effect on them, which has led to this evolutionary arms race between the phages and their host bacteria. [14]
Lambda phage is a non-contractile tailed phage, meaning during an infection event it cannot 'force' its DNA through a bacterial cell membrane. It must instead use an existing pathway to invade the host cell, having evolved the tip of its tail to interact with a specific pore to allow entry of its DNA to the hosts.