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Related Concept Videos

DNA Bacteriophages01:26

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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Lytic Cycle of Bacteriophages01:30

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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 Bacteriophages00:43

Lysogenic Cycle of Bacteriophages

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In contrast to the lytic cycle, phages infecting bacteria via the lysogenic cycle do not immediately kill their host cell. Instead, they combine their genome with the host genome, allowing the bacteria to replicate the phage DNA along with the bacterial genome. The incorporated copy of the phage genome is called the prophage. Some prophages can re-activate and enter the lytic cycle. This often occurs in response to a perturbation, such as DNA damage, but can also transpire in the absence of...
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Viral Replication: Lysogenic Cycle01:16

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The lysogenic cycle is a crucial viral replication strategy that allows bacteriophages to persist within host cells without immediately destroying them. This process is primarily observed in temperate phages, such as bacteriophage lambda (λ), which infects Escherichia coli. The cycle allows the viral genome to persist across bacterial generations while keeping host cells viable.Integration of the Viral GenomeUpon infection, bacteriophage lambda attaches to the bacterial surface and injects...
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Immune Surveillance by NK Cells and Phagocytes01:25

Immune Surveillance by NK Cells and Phagocytes

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Immune surveillance is an integral part of the innate immune system, involving the continuous monitoring of peripheral tissues to detect and respond to pathogens, infected cells, or cancerous cells. This surveillance is conducted primarily by natural killer (NK) cells and phagocytes, which employ distinct but complementary mechanisms to identify and eliminate threats.
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Viral Replication: Lytic Cycle01:20

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Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. Among them, T-even bacteriophages, such as T4, exhibit a well-characterized lytic replication cycle in Escherichia coli (E. coli). This process ensures the rapid proliferation of the virus while ultimately leading to the destruction of the bacterial host.Attachment and DNA InjectionThe infection process begins with the recognition and binding of the T4 phage to the E. coli cell surface. Tail fibers of the phage...
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Phage Phenomics: Physiological Approaches to Characterize Novel Viral Proteins
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Phages with a broad host range are common across ecosystems.

Amaury Bignaud1,2, Devon E Conti1,2,3, Agnès Thierry1

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Phages, or bacteriophages, commonly infect multiple bacterial species, challenging the traditional view of a narrow host range. This discovery has significant implications for microbial ecology, evolution, and phage therapy strategies.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Virology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Phages (bacteriophages) are abundant viruses in microbial communities, crucial for microbial evolution.
  • Phage-host interactions are traditionally considered to have a narrow host range.
  • Understanding virus-host dynamics is key to comprehending microbial ecosystem functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate virus-host interactions across diverse environments using advanced genomic techniques.
  • To determine the host range spectrum of phages in various ecosystems.
  • To challenge and refine the existing understanding of phage-host specificity.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized proximity-ligation-based metagenomic Hi-C (metaHiC) data from multiple environments.
  • Reconstructed thousands of microbial and phage genomes.
  • Constructed a genome-to-genome contact network to infer virus-host associations.

Main Results:

  • Successfully reconstructed 4,975 microbial and 6,572 phage genomes.
  • Assigned hosts to approximately half of the reconstructed phage genomes.
  • Revealed that a substantial proportion of phages interact with multiple host species across different environments, including marine and gut ecosystems.

Conclusions:

  • Multihost phage associations are common and widespread across diverse ecosystems.
  • This finding necessitates a re-evaluation of the traditional narrow host spectrum model for phages.
  • The prevalence of multihost phages has significant implications for microbial ecology, evolution, and the development of phage therapy.