Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are believed to be the most abundant and genetically diverse organisms on Earth. As such, their ecology is vast both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Their abundance makes an understanding of phage ecology increasingly relevant to bacterial ecosystem ecology, bacterial genomics and bacterial pathology. Abedon provides the first text on phage ecology for almost 20 years. Written by leading experts, synthesizing the three key approaches to studying phage ecology, namely studying them in natural environments (in situ), experimentally in the lab, or theoretically using mathematical or computer models. With strong emphasis on microbial population biology and distilling cutting-edge research into basic principles, this book will complement other currently available volumes. It will therefore serve as an essential resource for graduate students and researchers, particularly those with an interest in phage ecology and evolutionary biology.

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are believed to be the most abundant and genetically diverse organisms on Earth. As such, their ecology is vast both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Their abundance makes an understanding of phage ecology increasingly relevant to bacterial ecosystem ecology, bacterial genomics and bacterial pathology. Abedon provides the first text on phage ecology for almost 20 years. Written by leading experts, synthesizing the three key approaches to studying phage ecology, namely studying them in natural environments (in situ), experimentally in the lab, or theoretically using mathematical or computer models. With strong emphasis on microbial population biology and distilling cutting-edge research into basic principles, this book will complement other currently available volumes. It will therefore serve as an essential resource for graduate students and researchers, particularly those with an interest in phage ecology and evolutionary biology.

This first major reference work dedicated to the mannifold industrial and medical applications of bacteriophages provides both theoretical and practical insights into the emerging field of bacteriophage biotechnology. The book introduces to bacteriophage biology, ecology and history and reviews the latest technologies and tools in bacteriophage detection, strain optimization and nanotechnology. Usage of bacteriophages in food safety, agriculture, and different therapeutic areas is discussed in detail. This book serves as essential guide for researchers in applied microbiology, biotechnology and medicine coming from both academia and industry.

Bacteriophages (phages) are the viruses of bacteria and biofilms that represent a frequent niche for bacteria, where they are embedded in extensive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and can be structured into complex microcolonies. As a consequence of the resulting spatial structure and heterogeneity, phage-bacterial interactions within biofilms can be more complicated than those between phages and planktonic bacteria. This book presents and discusses research which provides a better understanding of the biology of phages interacting with biofilms.

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria; as such, they have many potential uses for promoting health and combating disease. This book covers the many facets of phage-bacterial-human interaction in three sections: the role and impact of phages on natural bacterial communities, the potential to develop phage-based therapeutics and other aspects in which phages can be used to combat disease, including bacterial detection, bacterial epidemiology, the tracing of fecal contamination of water and decontamination of foods.

It has been 10 years since Plenum included a series of reviews on bacte riophages, in Comprehensive Virology. Chapters in that series contained physical-genetic maps but very little DNA sequence information. Now the complete DNA sequence is known for some phages, and the se quences for others will soon follow. During the past 10 years two phages have come into common use as reagents: A phage for cloning single copies of genes, and Ml3 for cloning and DNA sequencing by the dideoxy termi nation method. Also during that period the use of alternative sigma fac tors by RNA polymerase has become established for SPOl and T4. This seems to be a widely used mechanism in bacteria, since it has been implicated in sporulation, heat shock response, and regulation of nitro gen metabolism. The control of transcription by the binding of A phage CII protein to the -35 region of the promoter is a recent finding, and it is not known how widespread this mechanism may be. This rapid progress made me eager to solicit a new series of reviews. These contributions are of two types. Each of the first type deals with an issue that is exemplified by many kinds of phages; chapters of this type should be useful in teaching advanced courses. Chapters of the second type provide comprehensive pictures of individual phage families and should provide valuable information for use in planning experiments.

Filamentous phage (genus Inovirus) infect almost invariably Gram-negative bacteria. They are distinguished from all other bacteriophage not only by morphology, but also by the mode of their assembly, a secretion-like process that does not kill the host. “Classic” Escherichia colifilamentous phage Ff (f1, fd and M13) are used in display technology and bio/nano/technology, whereas filamentous phage in general have been put to use by their bacterial hosts for adaptation to environment, pathogenesis, biofilm formation, horizontal gene transfer and modulating genome stability. Many filamentous phage have a “symbiotic” life style that is often manifested by inability to form plaques, preventing their identification by standard phage-hunting techniques; while the absence or very low sequence conservation between phage infecting different species often complicates their identification through bioinformatics. Nevertheless, the number of discovered filamentous phage is increasing rapidly, along with realization of their significance. “Temperate” filamentous phage whose genomes are integrated into the bacterial chromosome of pathogenic bacteria often modulate virulence of the host. The Vibrio cholerae phage CTXf genome encodes cholera toxin, whereas many filamentous prophage influence virulence without encoding virulence factors. The nature of their effect on the bacterial pathogenicity and overall physiology is the next frontier in understanding intricate relationship between the filamentous phage and their hosts. Phage display has been widely used as a combinatorial technology of choice for discovery of therapeutic antibodies and peptide leads that have been applied in the vaccine design, diagnostics and drug development or targeting over the past thirty years. Virion proteins of filamentous phage are integral membrane proteins prior to assembly; hence they are ideal for display of bacterial surface and secreted proteins. The use of this technology at the scale of microbial community has potential to identify host-interacting proteins of uncultivable or low-represented community members. Recent applications of Ff filamentous phage extend into protein evolution, synthetic biology and nanotechnology. In many applications, phage serves as a monodisperse long-aspect nano-scaffold of well-defined shape. Chemical or chenetic modifications of this scaffold are used to introduce the necessary functionalities, such as fluorescent labels, ligands that target specific proteins, or peptides that promote formation of inorganic or organic nanostructures. We anticipate that the future holds development of new strategies for particle assembly, site-specific multi-functional modifications and improvement of existing modification strategies. These improvements will render the production of filamentous-phage-templated materials safe and affordable, allowing their applications outside of the laboratory.