Phage ecology

Bacteriophages (phages), potentially the most numerous "organisms" on Earth, are the viruses of bacteria (more generally, of prokaryotes[1]). Phage ecology is the study of the interaction of bacteriophages with their environments.[2]

  1. ^ The term "prokaryotes" is useful to mean the sum of the bacteria and archaea but otherwise can be controversial, as discussed by Woese CR (June 2004). "A new biology for a new century". Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68 (2): 173–86. doi:10.1128/MMBR.68.2.173-186.2004. PMC 419918. PMID 15187180. The Dismantling of Bacteriology and a Deconstruction of the Procaryote {{cite journal}}: External link in |quote= (help); see also pp. 103–4 of Sapp, Jan (2004). "Evolving biological organization". Microbial phylogeny and evolution: concepts and controversies. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 99–118. ISBN 978-0-19-516877-8.
    Sapp J (September 2006). "Two faces of the prokaryote concept" (PDF). Int. Microbiol. 9 (3): 163–72. PMID 17061206. provides a history.
  2. ^ This article on phage ecology was expanded from a stub during the writing of the first chapter of the edited monograph, Bacteriophage Ecology (forecasted publication date: March, 2008, Cambridge University Press), in order to be cited by that chapter especially as a repository of phage ecology review chapters and articles.