What do bacteriophages infect?
Bacteriophage: ↑ A virus that infects bacteria, also called a phage.
Is there a bacteriophage for tuberculosis?
Bacteriophages infecting M. tuberculosis were first isolated in the 1950s (14) and have been used to type clinical isolates (15). Four major subtypes of M. tuberculosis (A, B, C, and I) have been described (16, 17), each of which differs in their phage susceptibility profiles (18).
What is Mycobacterium phage?
Abstract. Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts. A large number of mycobacteriophages have been isolated and genomically characterized, providing insights into viral diversity and evolution, as well as fueling development of tools for mycobacterial genetics.
How do you detect phage?
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a simple and robust method to verify the presence of phages faster than plaque assays, based on the detection of nucleic acid.
What are the two life cycles of bacteriophages?
Phages exhibit two distinct life cycles in bacteria, a lytic cycle and a lysogenic cycle. During the lytic cycle, phages replicate and progeny particles are released through lysis. By contrast, during lysogeny, phages integrate their genomes into the bacterial chromosome and enter a dormant state.
Can a bacteriophage infect a human?
Although bacteriophages cannot infect and replicate in human cells, they are an important part of the human microbiome and a critical mediator of genetic exchange between pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria [5][6].
How could phage therapy treat a resistant bacterial infection?
Phages work against both treatable and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They may be used alone or with antibiotics and other drugs. Phages multiply and increase in number by themselves during treatment (only one dose may be needed). They only slightly disturb normal “good” bacteria in the body.
What is the morphology of Mycobacterium smegmatis?
The surface morphology of this microbe will be shiny, smooth, finely wrinkled or coarsely collapsed [2]. M. smegmatis is found to non-pathogenic and rapidly developing than other Mycobacterium species [3]. The organism is aerobic, which donates the final electrons to oxygen during respiration.
Is a common disease caused by a Mycobacterium?
Mycobacteria are a type of germ. There are many different kinds. The most common one causes tuberculosis. Another one causes leprosy.
Are bacteriophages harmful to humans?
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria but are harmless to humans. To reproduce, they get into a bacterium, where they multiply, and finally they break the bacterial cell open to release the new viruses. Therefore, bacteriophages kill bacteria.
How do bacteriophages cause damage?
When the phage infects a new bacterium, it introduces the original host bacterium’s DNA into the new bacterium. In this way, phages can introduce a gene that is harmful to humans (e.g., an antibiotic resistance gene or a toxin) from one bacterium to another.