Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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 typing is a phenotypic method that uses bacteriophages ("phages" for short) for detecting and identifying single strains of bacteria. [1] Phages are viruses that infect bacteria and may lead to bacterial cell lysis. [2] The bacterial strain is assigned a type based on its lysis pattern. [3]
Integration of prophages into the bacterial host is the characteristic step of the lysogenic cycle of temperate phages. Prophages remain latent in the genome through multiple cell divisions until activation by an external factor, such as UV light, leading to production of new phage particles that will lyse the cell and spread.
The life cycle of lambda phages is controlled by cI and Cro proteins. The lambda phage will remain in the lysogenic state if cI proteins predominate, but will be transformed into the lytic cycle if cro proteins predominate. The cI dimer may bind to any of three operators, O R 1, O R 2, and O R 3, in the order O R 1 > O R 2 > O R 3.
Assembled major coat protein subunits in Ff (fd, f1, M13) filamentous bacteriophage (genus Inovirus), exploded view. Filamentous phage virion--schematic views. Filamentous bacteriophages are among the simplest living organisms known, with far fewer genes than the classical tailed bacteriophages studied by the phage group in the mid-20th century.
Phages can also impact abiotic factors via the encoding of exotoxins (a subset of which are capable of solubilizing the biological tissues of living animals). Phage ecosystem ecologists are primarily concerned with the phage impact on the global carbon cycle , especially within the context of a phenomenon known as the microbial loop .
The only other scientist in Luria's lab at that time, with whom Watson shared a lab bench, was Renato Dulbecco (a future member of the phage group), who had recently arrived from Italy to do experiments on phage multiplicity reactivation. Later that semester (1948), Watson met, for the first time, Delbruck who was briefly visiting Luria.
Dating back to the 1940s and continuing today, T-even phages are considered the best studied model organisms. Model organisms are usually required to be simple with as few as five genes. Yet, T-even phages are in fact among the largest and highest complexity virus, in which these phage's genetic information is made up of around 300 genes.