How Bacteriophages Shape Human Microbes

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, and they are found throughout the human body. They are a major part of the human virome. In the gut, they can reach very high numbers, and many belong to the orders Caudovirales and Microviridae. A large fraction still cannot be classified and is often described as viral "...

Bacteriophages are found throughout the human body.

They may even outnumber eukaryotic viruses, forming an important and dynamic component of the human virome.

In the gut, bacteriophages may integrate their genome, carrying beneficial genes for antibiotic resistance or specialized metabolism into the bacterial genome through lysogeni...