Phages in nature

TLDR

Phages, the most abundant organisms in the biosphere, infect bacteria and archaea and serve as key agents of horizontal gene transfer, drivers of bacterial evolution, and sources of diagnostic, genetic, and therapeutic tools, making their biology central to understanding microbial systems. The article aims to describe phage roles across host systems and illustrate how recent modeling, microscopy, isolation, genomic, and metagenomic approaches converge to yield unprecedented insights into these vital microbial constituents. The authors employ modeling, microscopy, isolation, genomic, and metagenomic techniques to investigate phage biology and their interactions with hosts.

Abstract

Phages are the most abundant organisms in the biosphere and they are a ubiquitous feature of prokaryotic existence. A bacteriophage is a virus which infects a bacterium. Archaea are also infected by viruses, whether these should be referred to as ‘phages’ is debatable, but they are included as such in the scope this article. Phage have been of interest to scientists as tools to understand fundamental molecular biology, as vectors of horizontal gene transfer and drivers of bacterial evolution, as sources of diagnostic and genetic tools, and as novel therapeutic agents. Unraveling the biology of phages and their relationship with their hosts is key to understanding microbial systems and their exploitation. In this article we describe the roles of phages in different host systems and show how modeling, microscopy, isolation, genomic and metagenomic based approaches have come together recently to provide unparalleled insights into these small but vital constituents of the microbial world.