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Bacteriophage

Phage300A bacteriophage (from ‘bacteria’ and Greek ‘phagein’ “to eat”) is any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria. The term is commonly used in its shortened form, phage.

Typically, bacteriophages consist of an outer protein hull enclosing genetic material. The genetic material can be ssRNA (single stranded RNA), dsRNA, ssDNA, or dsDNA between 5 and 505610 kilo base pairs long with either circular or linear arrangement. Bacteriophages are much smaller than the bacteria they destroy – usually between 20 and 200 nm in size. Phages are estimated to be the most widely distributed and diverse entities in the biosphere.[1]

Phages are ubiquitous and can be found in all reservoirs populated by bacterial hosts, such as soil or the intestines of animals. One of the densest natural sources for phages and other viruses is sea water, where up to 9×108 virions per milliliter have been found in microbial mats at the surface[2], and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages.[3] They have been used for over 60 years as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.[4] They are seen as a possible therapy against multi drug resistant strains of many bacteria.

  1. Mc Grath S and van Sinderen D (editors). (2007). Bacteriophage: Genetics and Molecular Biology, 1st ed., Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-14-1 .
  2. Wommack KE, Colwell RR (March 2000). “Virioplankton: viruses in aquatic ecosystems”. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 64 (1): 69ñ114. PMID 10704475.
  3. Prescott, L. (1993). Microbiology, Wm. C. Brown Publishers, ISBN 0-697-01372-3
  4. BBC Horizon (1997): The Virus that Cures – Documentary about the history of phage medicine in Russia and the West

Management Team

James Y. Lancaster
CEO, Chairman

Neil Summer, PhD
President, Co-Founder

Elizabeth Summer, PhD
Vice President, Research, Co-Founder

Keith McLeroy Senior Industry Consultant

Geddy Hamblen, MS
Director of Microbiology

Recent Posts

  • Ecolyse Research Featured in 2018 The Analyst The Voice of the Water Treatment Industry October 25, 2018
  • CTO Liz Summer presents at Best of RPSEA 10 Years of Research Conference September 17, 2016
  • Ecolyse Research featured in 2015 NACE CORROSION CorrCompilation March 18, 2015
  • Ecolyse presents at Recent Advances Microbial Control 2014 San Fransisco, CA November 9, 2014
  • Ecolyse Research presented at NACE CORROSION 2014 March 12, 2014
  • Ecolyse Ethanol Research Featured in CEP Magazine January 1, 2014
  • Jerome Brown joins Ecolyse December 10, 2013
  • Patent awarded to Ecolyse’s Phage Biocontrol Research department November 19, 2013
  • Ecolyse Research presented at NACE CORROSION 2013 in Orlando, FL March 17, 2013
  • Ecolyse Research presented at Recent Advances in Microbial Control 2012 in Alexandria, VA October 28, 2012

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