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    What Is A Bacteriophage

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    Omar Mohsen Sarhan
    This document discusses bacteriophages and the lytic cycle. It begins by defining a bacteriophage as a virus that infects bacteria. It describes the structure of bacteriophages and how they invade host cells through adsorption, irreversible attachment, sheath contraction, and nucleic acid injection. The document then explains that bacteriophages can undergo either a lytic or lysogenic growth cycle. The lytic cycle has six stages: penetration, formation of a circular viral DNA, copying of viral rather than bacterial DNA, assembly of new viruses inside the cell, lysis of the cell, and release of new bacteriophages.

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    What Is A Bacteriophage

    Uploaded by

    Omar Mohsen Sarhan
    55 views5 pages
    This document discusses bacteriophages and the lytic cycle. It begins by defining a bacteriophage as a virus that infects bacteria. It describes the structure of bacteriophages and how they invade host cells through adsorption, irreversible attachment, sheath contraction, and nucleic acid injection. The document then explains that bacteriophages can undergo either a lytic or lysogenic growth cycle. The lytic cycle has six stages: penetration, formation of a circular viral DNA, copying of viral rather than bacterial DNA, assembly of new viruses inside the cell, lysis of the cell, and release of new bacteriophages.

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    What is a Bacteriophage

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    This document discusses bacteriophages and the lytic cycle. It begins by defining a bacteriophage as a virus that infects bacteria. It describes the structure of bacteriophages and how they invade host cells through adsorption, irreversible attachment, sheath contraction, and nucleic acid injection. The document then explains that bacteriophages can undergo either a lytic or lysogenic growth cycle. The lytic cycle has six stages: penetration, formation of a circular viral DNA, copying of viral rather than bacterial DNA, assembly of new viruses inside the cell, lysis of the cell, and release of new bacteriophages.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    55 views5 pages

    What Is A Bacteriophage

    Uploaded by

    Omar Mohsen Sarhan
    This document discusses bacteriophages and the lytic cycle. It begins by defining a bacteriophage as a virus that infects bacteria. It describes the structure of bacteriophages and how they invade host cells through adsorption, irreversible attachment, sheath contraction, and nucleic acid injection. The document then explains that bacteriophages can undergo either a lytic or lysogenic growth cycle. The lytic cycle has six stages: penetration, formation of a circular viral DNA, copying of viral rather than bacterial DNA, assembly of new viruses inside the cell, lysis of the cell, and release of new bacteriophages.

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    Assignment (1)

    Assignment (1)
    Relation Between Bacteriophage & Lytic Cycle
    Omar Mohsen Sarhan (060347)
    MSA University, Faculty of Biotechnology, GEN301
    Dr. Gihan
    TA: Dr. Aicha
    October 8, 2010
    What is a Bacteriophage?

    A Bacteriophage where phage comes from the Greek word phagein which means
    “to eat”, it is any virus that infects bacteria. The phage has an outer protein layer
    enclosing the genetic material. The genetic material can vary as it could be
    ssRNA, dsRNA, ssDNA, or dsDNA. The genetic material could be linear or circular.
    It also has a sheath, tail pins, base plate & core to help invade the host.

    Phages are ubiquitous and can be found in all reservoirs populated by bacterial
    hosts, such as soil or the intestine of animals. One of the densest natural sources
    for phages and other viruses is sea water, where up to 109 virions per millilitre
    have been found at the surface, and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected
    by phages.

    Fig. (1); Structure of the Bacteriophage. [Accessed on 8 th of October, 2010 from


    http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/bacteriophage.html]
    Fig. (2); Bacteriophage invasion of host. [Accessed on 8th of October, 2010 from
    http://bioap.wikispaces.com/Ch+16+Collaboration]
    The Bacteriophage has several steps when invading a cell:

     Adsorption
     Irreversible attachment
     Sheath Contraction
     Nucleic Acid Injection (As you can see in Fig. (2)

    Relation of Bacteriophage & Lytic cycle

    Bacteriophages are temperate they have alternative life cycles. After infecting a
    cell, they can undergo a typical lytic growth cycle or they become dormant in a
    lysogenic growth cycle. The phage is still present in the cell as a prophage and
    under certain conditions, such as UV irradiation, it becomes active and resumes a
    lytic growth cycle. These are the cycles of viral reproduction.

    The lytic cycle is has six stages with the first stage being “penetration” which is also
    referred to as nucleic acid injection. Then the viral acids form a circle in the center
     

    of the cell. The cell then mistakenly copies the viral acids instead of its own nucleic
    acids. Then the viral DNA organize themselves as viruses inside the cell. To infect a
    cell, a virus must first enter the cell through the plasma membrane and (if present)
    the cell wall. Phages do so by either attaching to a receptor on the cell's surface or
    by simple mechanical force (Adsorption & Irreversible attachment).

    After Adsorption & penetration several steps occur:

     Eclipse Phase, for several minutes following infection active phage is not
    detectable. During this period a number of new proteins are being synthesized
    which include enzymes necessary for synthesis of phage DNA. After the
    eclipse phase is over, the synthesis of bacterial proteins stops and that of
    protein subunits of phage's head and tail starts.

     Assembly, The protein subunits of the phage head and tail aggregate


    spontaneously (self-assembly) to form the compact capsid.
     Maturation, The assembly of the phage components into the mature infective
    phage particle is known as maturation.

     Lysis and Liberation of New Phage, The interval between the infection of a
    bacterial cell and the first release of infectious phage particles is known as
    latent period. The average yield of progeny phages from the infected bacterial
    cells is known as burst size. The period during which infectious phages
    released rise is known as the rise period. As you can see in Fig. 3.

    Fig. (3); Lytic & Lysogenic cycle. [Accessed on 8 th of October, 2010 from http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/250/250SS10_5.html]
    References:-
     "The Magical World of Bacteria & Phages" n.d. http://www.bio.miami.edu.
    University of Miami, Department of Biology 8 Oct. 2010 <
    http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/250/250SS10_5.html >.

     "Bacteriophage" n.d. Wikipedia. 8 Oct. 2010 <


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage >.

     "Bacteriology Chapter Seven - Bacteriophage" 2010


    http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/book/welcome.htm. University of South
    Carolina, School of Medicine 8 Oct. 2010 <
    http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/mayer/phage.htm >

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