In the battle against antibiotic resistance, many scientists have been trying to deploy naturally occurring viruses called bacteriophages that can infect and kill bacteria.
Biotechnology
Oct 3, 2019
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The global rise in antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to public health, damaging our ability to fight deadly infections such as tuberculosis.
Bio & Medicine
Jun 25, 2015
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The brute force of Bacillus anthracis, the ancient scourge that causes anthrax, can sweep through and overpower a two-ton animal in under 72 hours. But when it isn't busy claiming livestock and humans throughout ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 12, 2009
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The word "virus" is often associated with negative connotations. However, it is important to note that not all viruses are harmful. In fact, there are many viruses that live inside our bodies and play important roles in our ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 15, 2023
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Bacteriophages, also called phages, are viruses that infect and kill bacteria, their natural hosts. But from a macromolecular viewpoint, phages can be viewed as nutritionally enriched packets of nucleotides wrapped in an ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 26, 2023
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In a modern take on the Victorian gold rush, a Monash University-led project is successfully "bioprospecting" for viruses known as phages that can kill deadly superbugs.
Cell & Microbiology
May 25, 2023
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Viruses are usually associated with illness. But our bodies are full of both bacteria and viruses that constantly proliferate and interact with each other in our gastrointestinal tract. While we have known for decades that ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 11, 2023
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Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, may be used as an alternative treatment option when antibiotics fail. Leiden researchers have studied the structure and function of a novel bacteriophage that could be used to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 19, 2022
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Bacteria use a variety of defense strategies to fight off viral infection, and some of these systems have led to groundbreaking technologies, such as CRISPR-based gene-editing. Scientists predict there are many more antiviral ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 11, 2022
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137
Knowing the structure of a complex biological system isn't nearly enough to understand how it works. It helps to know how the system moves.
Biotechnology
Aug 9, 2022
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A bacteriophage (from 'bacteria' and Greek φαγεῖν phagein "to devour") is any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria. They do this by injecting genetic material, which they carry enclosed in an outer protein capsid. The genetic material can be ssRNA, dsRNA, ssDNA, or dsDNA ('ss-' or 'ds-' prefix denotes single-strand or double-strand) along with either circular or linear arrangement.
Bacteriophages are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere. The term is commonly used in its shortened form, phage.
Phages are widely distributed in locations populated by bacterial hosts, such as soil or the intestines of animals. One of the densest natural sources for phages and other viruses is sea water, where up to 9×108 virions per milliliter have been found in microbial mats at the surface, and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages. They have been used for over 90 years as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as well in France. They are seen as a possible therapy against multi-drug-resistant strains of many bacteria.
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