Bacteriophages

Hershey was born in Owosso, Michigan. He graduated from Michigan State in 1934 with a Ph.D. After his Ph.D., Hershey accepted a position at the Washington University School of Medicine in the Department of Bacteriology, where he started working on bacteriophage. In 1946, working with Max Delbruck, a fellow scientist, Hershey discovered that phage can recombine when co-infected into a bacterial host, which lead to research a new area of phage genetics. Martha Chase had just graduated from the…

contamination significantly reduces ethanol yields in the fermentation process. To remedy this problem, the industry typically uses antibiotic treatments, which do their job well enough, but are costly and aren’t a permanent solution. In the paper “Bacteriophage-encoded…

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…

Bacteriophages are viruses that attack bacteria with the sole purpose of replication, as phages cannot do it on their own. The phage structure consists of a capsid, a protein head that houses nucleic acids, and a tail, which allows for nucleic acid transfer during the infection of bacteria. The first step in phage bacterial infection is attachment, in which the phage tails have the role of cell surface receptor localization (Rhakuba, et al., 2010). Next, the phage injects its genetic material…

Bacteriophage is a virus that attacks bacterial cells and “disrupts” its normal metabolism, causing “the bacterium to lyse” (Sulakvelidze et al., 2001). Its effect on bacteria make the bacteriophage a possible new treatment for antibiotic resistant superbugs. Golkar et al. (2013) discuss the various advantages bacteriophage therapy offers over antibiotics. They are “very specific to their hosts”, meaning they can…

Introduction Escherichia coli or more commonly known as E. Coli is a gram negative, facultative anaerobic bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine. There are many different strains of E. Coli, with strains that are created in a laboratory setting that are used as a standard for testing other strains of e.coli.1 These special strains possess an inherent tetracycline resistance from the insertion of a “marker” 2’ upstream or downstream from a targeted gene. These tetracycline marked…

n/a) where Hershey marked bacteriophage DNA and protein shells to prove that DNA was passed down and protein was not. Hershey knew that bacteriophages contained basically two parts, a protein shell, and DNA. He used a radioactive isotope of phosphorus (which phosphorous isn 't found in DNA) to "mark" the DNA of the bacteriophage (Dnaftb, n/a). He then used a radioactive isotope of Sulphur to "mark" the protein in the shell of the bacteriophage. After the bacteriophage, DNA and Protein were…

The purpose of the infections caused by gram-positive cocci lab exercise is to utilize different identification and diagnostic techniques to differentiate various groups of bacteria, which cause infection. Our primary goal is first to establish the presence of an infection; then, determine which particular pathogens, or groups of pathogens, are the underlying cause of the infection. In the clinic, infections manifesting from gram-positive cocci are a common and growing problem. Two genera in…

by Felix d’Herelle who saw a series of plaques on a bacterial lawn [3]. After five years had passed he decided to further investigate the material contained in the plaques, which he named “Bacteriophage” [3]. Bacteriophages are a family of viruses that's main function is to infect bacterial cells. Bacteriophage contains basic physical features including a capsid (head), genomic material, and depending on the type of phage, a tail and base plate [4]. On average the size of phage has been found to…

Bacteriophages are the viruses of bacteria. They are a sequence of genomes which rotate from one bacterium to the next encased by capsids which are protein shells, which kill the bacteria in the process. Bacteriophages are immensely important to evolution and ecology of bacteria. They have colossal impacts on the carbon cycle. Phages also contribute to biology's comprehension of life at a molecular level. In addition, bacteriophages were essential to the evolution of genetic engineering. Phage…