There are approximately 10(31) phage in the biosphere, making them the most abundant biological entities on the planet. Despite their great numbers and ubiquitous presence, very little is known about phage biodiversity, biogeography, or phylogeny. Information is limited, in part, because the current ICTV taxonomical system is based on culturing phage and measuring physical parameters of the fre...

In toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, the cholera enterotoxin (CT) is encoded by CTXPhi, a lysogenic bacteriophage. The propagation of this filamentous phage can result in the origination of new toxigenic strains. To understand the nature of possible environmental factors associated with the propagation of CTXPhi, we examined the effects of temperature, pH, salinity, and exposure to direct sunlight on ...

Phage therapy has been a centre of attraction for biomedical scientists to treat infections caused by drug resistant strains. However, ability of phage to act only on extracellular bacteria and probability of interference by anti-phage antibodies in vivo is considered as a important limitation of bacteriophage therapy. To overcome these hurdles, liposome were used as delivery vehicle for phage ...

The inhibitory effect of high-titre preparations of phage 47 on certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus belonging to phage group I11 was produced with a phage: cell ratio of approximately 1 : 1. Staphylococci showing inhibition by preparations of phage 47 were converted to phage sensitivity by lysogenization with a phage derived from a strain sensitive to phage 47. Multiplication of phage 47 i...

A new generalized transducing bacteriophage in the Escherichia coli system was isolated and characterized. This phage, designated D108, makes clear plaques on E. coli K-10, K-12, K-12(P1kc), K-12(D6), B/r, C, and 15 T(-), and Shigella dysenteriae. The plaque of phage D108 is larger in size than that of phage P1kc. Electron-microscopic observation revealed that phages D108 and P1kc are morpholog...

This work describes the characterization and genome annotation of newly isolated lytic phage vB_SsoM_Z31 (referred to as Z31), from wastewater samples collected in Dalian, China. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that Z31 belongs family Myoviridae, order Caudovirales. specifically infects Shigella sonnei, dysenteriae, Escherichia coli. The is an 89,355-bp-long dsDNA molecule with a G+C ...

Phage ecology has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Fermented foods have rich and diverse microbial communities, which are not only the creators of unique flavors food, but also good hosts for bacteriophages. However, at present, much is known about bacterial fungal communities their functions fermented foods, little bacteriophages that inhabit bacteria. This article reviews findi...

Increasing antibiotic resistance and a rising patient population at risk for infection due to impaired immunity underscore the importance of vaccination against pneumococci. However, available capsular polysaccharide vaccines are often poorly immunogenic in patients at risk for pneumococcal disease. The goal of this study was to explore the potential of peptide mimotopes to function as alternat...

A major limitation with traditional phage preparations is the variability in titer, salts, and bacterial contaminants between successive propagations. Here we introduce the Phage On Tap (PoT) protocol for the quick and efficient preparation of homogenous bacteriophage (phage) stocks. This method produces homogenous, laboratory-scale, high titer (up to 10(10-11) PFU·ml(-1)), endotoxin reduced ph...