Phenotypic flux: The role of physiology in explaining the conundrum of bacterial persistence amid phage attack.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages, the viruses of bacteria, have been studied for over a century. They were not only instrumental in laying the foundations of molecular biology, but they are also likely to play crucial roles in shaping our biosphere and may offer a solution to the control of drug-resistant bacterial infections. However, it remains challenging to predict the conditions for bacterial eradication by phage predation, sometimes even under well-defined laboratory conditions, and, most curiously, if the majority of surviving cells are genetically phage-susceptible. Here, I propose that even clonal phage and bacterial populations are generally in a state of continuous 'phenotypic flux', which is caused by transient and nongenetic variation in phage and bacterial physiology. Phenotypic flux can shape

SUBMITTER: Igler C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9547521 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature