We commonly acknowledge that bacterial viruses (phages) shape the composition and
evolution of bacterial communities in nature and therefore have important roles in ecosystem …

Viruses numerically dominate our oceans; however, we have only just begun to document
the diversity, host range and infection dynamics of marine viruses, as well as the subsequent …

Viruses that infect microbial hosts have traditionally been studied in laboratory settings with
a focus on either obligate lysis or persistent lysogeny. In the environment, these infection …

Bacteriophages, discovered about a century ago, have been pivotal as models for
understanding the fundamental principles of molecular biology. While interest in phage …

Many systems on our planet shift abruptly and irreversibly from the desired state to an
undesired state when forced across a “tip** point”. Some examples are mass extinctions …

Infection by a temperate phage can lead to death of the bacterial cell, but sometimes these
phages integrate into the bacterial chromosome, offering the potential for a more long …

Temperate phages are pervasive in bacterial genomes, existing as vertically inherited
islands termed prophages. Prophages are vulnerable to predation of their host bacterium by …

Bacteria utilize CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems for protection from bacteriophages
(phages), and some phages produce anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins that inhibit immune …

Lysogens are common at high bacterial densities, an observation that contrasts with the
prevailing view of lysogeny as a low‐density refugium strategy. Here, we review the …

Numerous ecological interactions among microbes—for example, competition for space and
resources, or interaction among phages and their bacterial hosts—are likely to occur …