In: Anatomy and Physiology
Provide an example for a virulence bacteriophage, and name the species of the bacterial host and function of that carried bacteriophage?
(A generic example and definition is sufficient)
Bacteriophage, also called phage or bacterial virus, any of a group of viruses that infect bacteria.
Thousands of varieties of phages exist, each of which may infect only one type or a few types of bacteria or archaea. Phages are classified in a number of virus families; some examples include Inoviridae, Microviridae, Rudiviridae, and Tectiviridae. Like all viruses, phages are simple organisms that consist of a core of genetic material (nucleic acid) surrounded by a protein capsid. The nucleic acid may be either DNA or RNA and may be double-stranded or single-stranded.
An example of a bacteriophage known to follow the lysogenic cycle and the lytic cycle is the phage lambda of E. coli. Sometimes prophages may provide benefits to the host bacterium while they are dormant by adding new functions to the bacterial genome, in a phenomenon called lysogenic conversion.
e.g., Salmonella enterica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.