Bacteriophage
The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth
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A bacteriophage (/bækˈtɪərioʊfeɪdʒ/), also known informally as a phage (/feɪdʒ/), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. The term was derived from "bacteria" and the Greek φαγεῖν (phagein), meaning "to devour". 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.
Bacteriophages are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere.[1] Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viruses, found wherever bacteria exist. It is estimated there are more than 1031 bacteriophages on the planet, more than every other organism on Earth, including bacteria, combined.[2] One of the densest natural sources for phages and other viruses is seawater, where up to 9x108 virions per millilitre have been found in microbial mats at the surface,[3] and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages.[4]
Phages have been used since the late 19th century as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, as well as in France.[5][6] They are seen as a possible therapy against multi-drug-resistant strains of many bacteria (see phage therapy).[7] Phages of Inoviridae have been shown to complicate biofilms involved in pneumonia and cystic fibrosis and to shelter the bacteria from drugs meant to eradicate disease, thus promoting persistent infection.
