Applied Significance of Polyvalent Bacteriophages

Abstract

A bacterial virus or bacteriophage is an exogenous submicroscopic particle capable of multiplication only inside specific bacterial cells .Viral reproduction, however, is unique because typical viral particles cannot be found inside infected host cells for some finite period immediately following infection. This eclipse period perhaps constitutes the only useful criterion for differentiating between large viruses and strict intracellular parasites such as rickettsia. The best-known bacterial viruses are Escherichia coli , and until recently, the T-even coliphages held the attention of the vast majority of the microbial virologists. The chapter emphasizes the diversity of bacteriophage behaviour and accordingly chooses examples from a variety of microbial genera.