Temperature as a Driver of Phage Ecology and Evolution

Bacteriophages (phages) are virtually ubiquitous and play a fundamental role in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of their bacterial hosts. While phages are found across many thermal environments, they can be highly sensitive to changes in temperature. Moreover, phages are expected to face increasingly frequent and intense thermal perturbations with global climate change. In this review, we combine theoretical and empirical evidence to assess the impact of the thermal environment on phage biology at the global scale. We identify key thermal environments that phages inhabit, and we discuss the role of temperature in determining phage life-history strategies, ecological interactions, and evolutionary dynamics. We then explore the potential effects of thermal variation on phage functions in natural microbial communities and the application of phages as biomedical therapeutics.