Tapping the treasure trove of atypical phages
Year: 2024
Type: review
Abstract: With advancements in genomics technologies, a vast diversity of 'atypical' phages, that is, with single-stranded DNA or RNA genomes, are being uncovered from different ecosystems. Though these efforts have revealed the existence and prevalence of these nonmodel phages, computational approaches often fail to associate these phages with their specific bacterial host(s), while the lack of methods to isolate these phages has limited our ability to characterize infectivity pathways and new gene function. In this review, we call for the development of generalizable experimental methods to better capture this understudied viral diversity via isolation and study them through gene-level characterization and engineering. Establishing a diverse set of new 'atypical' phage model systems has the potential to provide many new biotechnologies, including potential uses of these atypical phages in halting the spread of antibiotic resistance and engineering of microbial communities for beneficial outcomes.
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology
Authors: Simon Roux, Vivek K Mutalik
Institutions: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Joint Genome Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Virology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,970
OpenAlex ID: W4403314688