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DNA Bacteriophages

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Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, utilizing their genetic material to hijack host cellular machinery for replication. DNA bacteriophages employ single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) or double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes. These phages exhibit diverse replication strategies and host interactions, influencing their ecological roles and applications in biotechnology and medicine.ssDNA BacteriophagesssDNA phages, with their small genomes, utilize unique strategies to...

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Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are specialized viruses that infect bacteria. A key characteristic of phages is their distinctive “head-tail” morphology. A phage begins the infection process (i.e., lytic cycle) by attaching to the outside of a bacterial cell. Attachment is accomplished via proteins in the phage tail that bind to specific receptor proteins on the outer surface of the bacterium. The tail injects the phage’s DNA genome into the bacterial cytoplasm. In the...

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Lysogenic Cycle of Bacteriophages

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Updated: Dec 3, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Protein Engineering – Harnessing Evolution Through PRANCE and Lab Automation

Author Spotlight: Advancing Protein Engineering – Harnessing Evolution Through PRANCE and Lab Automation

Published on: January 12, 2024

Phage engineering and the evolutionary arms race.

Huan Peng¹, Irene A Chen¹

¹Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 5531 Boelter Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1592, United States.

Current Opinion in Biotechnology

|October 28, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Bacteriophages (phages) can be engineered to deliver various payloads for applications like treating antibiotic-resistant infections. Their natural evolutionary history makes them highly adaptable to molecular engineering for therapeutic uses.

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Phage Phenomics: Physiological Approaches to Characterize Novel Viral Proteins

Phage Phenomics: Physiological Approaches to Characterize Novel Viral Proteins

Published on: June 11, 2015

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Biotechnology

Background:

Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect bacteria and have diverse applications.
Phages can be engineered to deliver various cargo, including nanomaterials and nucleic acids.
Antibiotic-resistant infections pose a significant global health challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the molecular engineering of phages for various applications.
To explore the potential of engineered phages in treating antibiotic-resistant infections.
To discuss the evolutionary basis for phage engineering adaptability.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on phage engineering.
Examples of chemical and genetic modification of phages.
Discussion of phage-bacterial evolutionary arms race.

Main Results:

Phages are highly amenable to molecular engineering (chemical and genetic).
Engineered phages show promise for controlled phage therapy against resistant bacteria.
Phage adaptability is linked to their long evolutionary history of co-evolution with bacteria.

Conclusions:

Phage engineering offers versatile solutions for drug delivery and combating antibiotic resistance.
The inherent robustness of phages, shaped by evolution, facilitates extensive synthetic modification.
Future applications of phage therapy are significantly enhanced by molecular engineering capabilities.