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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.
Phages fd, f1, M13 and other related phages are Ff phages, for F specific (they infect Escherichia coli carrying the F-episome) filamentous phages, using the concept of vernacular name. [45] Filamentous bacteriophage engineered to display immunogenic peptides are useful in immunology and wider biological applications.
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]
This genetic material uses the host cell's ribosomes to replicate, and synthesize proteins for the capsid and tail of the phage. New phages are assembled within the cell until the cellular membrane lyses (splits open). The newly made phages are now free to attack more cells. This process is known as the Lytic cycle. [3]
Temperate phages (such as lambda phage) can reproduce using both the lytic and the lysogenic cycle. [4] How a phage decides which cycle to enter depends on a variety of factors. [5] For instance, if there are several other infecting phages (or if there is a high multiplicity), it is likely that the phage will use the lysogenic cycle.
Adsorption is a value characteristic of phage-host pair and the adsorption of the phage on host cell surface is illustrated as a 2-stage process: reversible and irreversible. It involves the phages tail structure that begins when the phages tail fibers helps bind the phage to the appropriate receptor of its host. This process is reversible.
In a 1945 study by Demerec and Fano, [4] T7 was used to describe one of the seven phage types (T1 to T7) that grow lytically on Escherichia coli. [5] Although all seven phages were numbered arbitrarily, phages with odd numbers, or T-odd phages, were later discovered to share morphological and biochemical features that distinguish them from T-even phages. [6]
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 .