bacteriophage
Sign in to savethumb|Structure at atomic resolution of Escherichia virus T4|bacteriophage T4 right|thumb|The structure of a typical Myoviridae|myovirus bacteriophage thumb|Anatomy and infection cycle of Escherichia virus T4|bacteriophage T4.
AI overview
A bacteriophage is a virus that infects and replicates inside bacteria by injecting its genetic material into bacterial cells. Bacteriophages are important because understanding their structure and infection cycles helps scientists study how viruses work and may lead to new ways to combat bacterial infections.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
36 sectionsContents
- Classification
- History
- Nobel prizes awarded for phage research
- Uses
- Phage therapy
- Other
- Food industry
- Water indicators
- Diagnostics
- Counteracting bioweapons and toxins
- Bacterium sensing and identification
- Phage display
- Antimicrobial drug discovery
- Basic research
- Agriculture
- Detriments
- Dairy industry
- Replication
- Attachment and penetration
- Synthesis of proteins and nucleic acid
- Virion assembly
- Release of virions
- Communication
- Genome structure
- Systems biology
- Host resistance and anti-phage defense
- Bacteriophage–host symbiosis
- In the environment
- In humans
- Commonly studied bacteriophages
- Bacteriophage databases and resources
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|Structure at atomic resolution of Escherichia virus T4|bacteriophage T4 right|thumb|The structure of a typical Myoviridae|myovirus bacteriophage thumb|Anatomy and infection cycle of Escherichia virus T4|bacteriophage T4.
A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structures that are either simple or elaborate. Their genomes may encode as few as four genes (e.g. MS2) and as many as hundreds of genes. Phages replicate within the bacterium following the injection of their genome into its cytoplasm.