Viruses that attack bacteria – bacteriophages – can be fussy: they only inject their genetic material into the bacteria that suit them. The fussiness of bacteriophages can be exploited in order to detect specific species of bacteria. Scientists from Warsaw have just demonstrated that bacteriophage-based biosensors will be much more efficient if prior to the deposition on the surface of the bact...

Exposure of Escherichia coli MG1655 to environmental bacteriophages results in rapid selection for phage-tolerant subpopulations displaying increased biofilm formation. Analysis of one phage-tolerant strain revealed large amounts of the DNA-binding Dps protein in the outer membrane protein and production of fimbria-like structures. In dps and fimA mutant derivatives of MG1655, no selection of p...

Complex interactions between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts play significant roles in shaping the structure of environmental microbial communities, not only by genetic transduction but also by modification of bacterial gene expression patterns. Survival of phages solely depends on their ability to infect their bacterial hosts, most importantly during phage entry. Successful dynamic ad...

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, and consequently they have a major impact on the development of a microbial population. In this study, the genome of a novel broad host range bacteriophage, Aquamicrobium phage P14, isolated from a wastewater treatment plant, was analyzed. The Aquamicrobium phage P14 was found to infect members of different Proteobacteria classes (Alphaproteobact...

A novel single-stranded DNA phage, phiMH2K, of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus was isolated, characterized, and sequenced. This phage is a member of the Microviridae, a family typified by bacteriophage phiX174. Although B. bacteriovorus and Escherichia coli are both classified as proteobacteria, phiMH2K is only distantly related to phiX174. Instead, phiMH2K exhibits an extremely close relationship t...

Bacteriophages isolated from free-range chickens were tested as a therapeutic agent for reducing the concentration of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis phage type 4 (S. Enteritidis PT4) in caeca of broilers. One-day-old broilers infected with S. Enteritidis PT4 by a seeder bird method were orally treated on the seventh day of age with a mixture of 10(11) plaque-forming units of each of th...

The photosensitizing action of dyes on biological systems is commonly designated as "photodynamic action." The subject has been well summarized in a monograph by Blum (1941). Earlier studies on photodynamic inactivation of bacteriophages were made by Clifton (1931), and by Perdrau and Todd (1933). Burnet (1933) discovered that the relative sensitivities of phage strains to photodynamic inactiva...

Viruses specifically infecting bacteria, or bacteriophages, are the most common biological entity in the biosphere. As such, they greatly influence bacteria, both in terms of enhancing their virulence and in terms of killing them. Since the first identification of bacteriophages in the beginning of the 20th century, researchers have been fascinated by these microorganisms and their ability to e...

Sin,?Various laboratories in Calcutta are nowadays manufacturing bacteriophages for use in bowel diseases especially. Some foreign made are also available. The time limit for their use is very puzzling. Majority put two years as their time limit for use whereas two do not put any date at all, with the idea that their products can be used with benefit, after any length of time. Considering the m...

The pathogenicity of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains depends on the production of Shiga toxins that are encoded on lambdoid prophages. Effective production of these toxins requires prophage induction and subsequent phage replication. Previous reports indicated that lytic development of Shiga toxin-converting bacteriophages is inhibited in amino acid-starved bacteria. However, ...