EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Introduction. Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are viruses that infect and replicate only in bacterial cells. They are ubiquitous in the environment and are recognized as the most abundant biological agent on earth.

Detailed explanation-2: -To infect bacteria, most bacteriophages employ a ‘tail’ that stabs and pierces the bacterium’s membrane to allow the virus’s genetic material to pass through. The most sophisticated tails consist of a contractile sheath surrounding a tube akin to a stretched coil spring at the nanoscale.

Detailed explanation-3: -Entry: The phage injects its double-stranded DNA genome into the cytoplasm of the bacterium.

Detailed explanation-4: -Infection begins through phage recognition of and adsorption to a host cell receptor via phage receptor binding proteins (RBP). In the next stage of the process, the viral genome is injected into the host bacterial cell’s periplasm and the host cell’s metabolic pathway is exploited to replicate the viral genome [6].

Detailed explanation-5: -Bacteriophage have either DNA or RNA as their genetic material, in either circular or linear configuration, as a single-or a double-stranded molecule.