Bacteriophage facts for kids
A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. The term is commonly shortened to phage.
Bacteriophages are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere. Like viruses that infect eukaryotes (plants, animals, and fungi) there are many different phage structures and functions.
The top of phages is made up of a dice-like shape which has 20 sides and 30 edges. Inside it contains the genetic information, which is its DNA. This dice-like shape often sits on a tail that has leg-like fibres.
Phages are typically made of an outer protein hull that has genetic material inside it. The genetic material may be single-stranded (ssRNA or ssDNA), or double-stranded (dsRNA or dsDNA). It may be between 5,000 to 500,000 base pairs long with either circular or linear arrangement. Bacteriophages are usually between 20 and 200 nanometers in size.
Phage genomes may code for as few as four genes, and as many as hundreds of genes. Phages inject their genome into the bacterium, and replicate inside the bacterium.
Phages are everywhere there are bacteria, such as soils or the intestines of animals. They are very common in sea water: up to 9×108 virions per milliliter have been found in microbial mats at the surface, and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages.
They have been used for over 90 years as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, as well as in France. However, it was not until the first phage was observed under an electron microscope by Helmut Ruska in 1939 that its true nature was established.
They are a possible therapy against antibiotic resistant strains of many bacteria. On the other hand, some phages complicate biofilms involved in pneumonia and cystic fibrosis. They shelter the bacteria from drugs and so prolong the infection.
Images for kids
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Structural model at atomic resolution of bacteriophage T4
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Anatomy and infection cycle of phage T4.
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Bacteriophage P22, a member of the Podoviridae by morphology due to its short, non-contractile tail
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Bacteriophage T2, a member of the Myoviridae due to its contractile tail
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George Eliava
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Diagram of the DNA injection process
See also
In Spanish: Bacteriófago para niños
