Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that exclusively infect and replicate within bacterial cells. Phages are ubiquitous, with an estimated 1x106 particles per drop of seawater and as many as 1x108 particles per g of soil. Phage predation destroys an estimated one-half of the bacterial population worldwide every 48 h, hence regulating the population dynamics of natural bacteria (Deresinski 2008).
Bacteriophages attach to their host cell by specialized structures called tail fibers, inject their nucleic acid into the bacterium and hijack the host cell machinery. Exploiting the host cells replication, translation, and transcription machinery, the phage produces many copies of its nucleic acid and capsid proteins. The escape of mature viruses takes …show more content…
2008). The major ones are: (a) for every type of known bacteria in nature, there is at least one complementary bacteriophage that specifically infects the target bacterial species and being host specific, they never affect indigenous microflora of any system, (b) replicate at the site of infection and are thus available where they are most needed; however, as soon as all the target bacteria have been destroyed, the population of the phage particles decreases and will disperse harmlessly, (c) they do not leave any toxic residue, (d) they do not induce development of resistance like antibiotics, and (e) phage therapy is not energy or resource intensive technique as their production is simple and relatively …show more content…
Phage pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics is complex because of the nature of the predator-prey relationship at the site of infection, in which both elements are replicating while the target bacteria are also undergoing lysis (Cairns and Payne 2008). Phage strains considered for application purposes should be screened for toxins, antibiotic resistance, and genes that increase bacterial pathogenicity. Further, the phage strain should have reduced immunogenicity, to minimize adverse reactions to phage therapy (Adhya et al. 2014). Hence, by developing efficient phage therapy, cost effective disinfection of water bodies, wastewater and sewage can be achieved without having any toxic by-products. Resistance to phages may be developed in bacteria, but this is not a major setback as it is pretty easier to develop new phage. In nature, as bacteria develop resistance against phages, their parasite phages will also
Bacteriophages attach to their host cell by specialized structures called tail fibers, inject their nucleic acid into the bacterium and hijack the host cell machinery. Exploiting the host cells replication, translation, and transcription machinery, the phage produces many copies of its nucleic acid and capsid proteins. The escape of mature viruses takes …show more content…
2008). The major ones are: (a) for every type of known bacteria in nature, there is at least one complementary bacteriophage that specifically infects the target bacterial species and being host specific, they never affect indigenous microflora of any system, (b) replicate at the site of infection and are thus available where they are most needed; however, as soon as all the target bacteria have been destroyed, the population of the phage particles decreases and will disperse harmlessly, (c) they do not leave any toxic residue, (d) they do not induce development of resistance like antibiotics, and (e) phage therapy is not energy or resource intensive technique as their production is simple and relatively …show more content…
Phage pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics is complex because of the nature of the predator-prey relationship at the site of infection, in which both elements are replicating while the target bacteria are also undergoing lysis (Cairns and Payne 2008). Phage strains considered for application purposes should be screened for toxins, antibiotic resistance, and genes that increase bacterial pathogenicity. Further, the phage strain should have reduced immunogenicity, to minimize adverse reactions to phage therapy (Adhya et al. 2014). Hence, by developing efficient phage therapy, cost effective disinfection of water bodies, wastewater and sewage can be achieved without having any toxic by-products. Resistance to phages may be developed in bacteria, but this is not a major setback as it is pretty easier to develop new phage. In nature, as bacteria develop resistance against phages, their parasite phages will also