The role of temperate bacteriophages in bacterial infection

Davies, EV; Winstanley, C; Fothergill, JL; James, C

Abstract

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. There are an estimated 1031 phage on the planet, making them the most abundant form of life. We are rapidly approaching the centenary of their identification, and yet still have only a limited understanding of their role in the ecology and evolution of bacterial populations. Temperate prophage carriage is often associated with increased bacterial virulence. The rise in use of technologies, such as genome sequencing and transcriptomics, has highlighted more subtle ways in which prophages contribute to pathogenicity. This review discusses the current knowledge of the multifaceted effects that phage can exert on their hosts and how this may contribute to bacterial adaptation during infection.

Citation

Davies, E., Winstanley, C., Fothergill, J., & James, C. (2016). The role of temperate bacteriophages in bacterial infection. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 363(5), fnw015. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw015

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 28, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 19, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 28, 2017
• Journal: FEMS Microbiology Letters
• Print ISSN: 0378-1097
• Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Volume: 363
• Issue: 5
• Pages: fnw015
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw015
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw015
• Related Public URLs: http://femsle.oxfordjournals.org/
• Additional Information: Grant Number: 089215/Z/09/Z; Grant Number: Early career fellowship