The value of information gathering in phage-bacteria warfare.

ABSTRACT: Phages-viruses that infect bacteria-have evolved over billions of years to overcome bacterial defenses. Temperate phage, upon infection, can "choose" between two pathways: lysis-in which the phage create multiple new phage particles, which are then liberated by cell lysis, and lysogeny-where the phage's genetic material is added to the bacterial DNA and transmitted to the bacterial progeny. It was recently discovered that some phages can read information from the environment related to the density of bacteria or the number of nearby infection attempts. Such information may help phage make the right choice between the two pathways. Here, we develop a theoretical model that allows an infecting phage to change its strategy (i.e. the ratio of lysis to lysogeny) depending on an outside signal,

SUBMITTER: Dahan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10776245 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature