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Bacteriophage Viruses

Bacteriophage Viruses
Source : Indian Express

GS II : Health

Overview

  1. News in Brief
  2. About Bacteriophage viruses
  3. Possibility of Phage therapy

Why in News ?

Scientists now talk of a virome all the different types of viruses we host in our bodies which contribute to health, much like the bacterial microbiome.

News in Brief


  • There are 380 trillion virus particles in or on your body at this time, which is ten times more than there are bacteria.
  • These viruses survive on our skin, remain inside the microorganisms in our stomachs, and hide in our blood, lungs, and skin.
  • There are viruses that develop our immune systems and aid in the defence against infections; some even regulate gene expression during pregnancy.
  • Bacteriophage viruses, which destroy bacteria in our microbiomes, make up the vast majority of viruses that live inside of humans.

About Bacteriophage viruses


  • Any of a group of viruses that infect bacteria is referred to as a bacteriophage.
  • Sometimes known as a phage or bacterial virus.
  • Frederick W. Twort in Great Britain (1915) and Felix d’Herelle in France (1917) separately discovered bacteriophages.

How Bacteriophage viruses works?

  • Phages are straightforward creatures .
  • Like other viruses, are made up of a core of genetic material (nucleic acid) encased in a protein capsid.
  • The nucleic acid may be either DNA or RNA.
  • They may be double-stranded or single-stranded.
  • They search out bacteria, stick on the surface of the bacterial cell, and then inject viral DNA inside the cell to complete their work.
  • Once enough new viruses have been produced inside the bacterial cell as a result of the viral DNA replication, the bacterial cell explodes, releasing the fresh viral particles.
  • This entire process just takes 30 minutes, thus one virus may multiplie into many in a matter of hours.
  • The single-celled prokaryotic species known as archaea are also infected by bacteriophages.

What are the varieties of Bacteriophage viruses?

  • There are thousands of different forms of phages or Bacteriophage.
  • Each one may infect just one or a few different kinds of bacteria or archaea.
  • Some of the virus families namely Inoviridae, Microviridae, Rudiviridae, and Tectiviridae.

Possibility of Phage therapy


  • Since phage treatment did not work, it was all but forgotten about until antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s.
    • Due to the scarcity of antibiotics in Soviet-era Russia, phages were used to treat bacterial infections.
  • Georgia is a hot spot for phage tourism.
    • Georgia has developed into one of the global centers of phage therapy.

What is challenge for Phage therapy?

  • The lack of therapeutic standardisation is the main issue.
  • Phage treatment needs to be properly adapted to the patient’s infection-causing microorganisms.
  • Since different types of bacteria can cause illnesses, a variety of phages must be employed as a treatment.
  • Also bacteria can become resistant to phage treatments as well.
  • Bacteriophages are unlikely to replace antibiotic.

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