There are a variety of risks involved in phage therapy because it is still under development. These may include sepsis (in the event that the individual’s immune system reacts to the therapy) as well as possible unknown long term effects. This is why this type of therapy does not yet have FDA approval, but generally phages are not harmful to humans and by nature only infect bacteria.
Because of the nature of temperate phages, they are not as effective in killing off a bacterial infection quickly–which is typically more ideal for phage therapy. You can think about lytic phages as almost a bulldozer, destroying every bacterial cell it comes across, while temperate phages are different. They don’t destroy every cell, instead they can integrate their genome into that of the host cell. There have been studies using temperate phages along with CRISPR techniques that have been effective in reversing antibiotic resistance, but in terms of the phage therapy in the scope of this class the techniques used are more reliant on lytic phages.
Simply the morphology of our phage plaques demonstrate the morphology of a temperate phage. So, looking at the plaques that we have grown, you can see a cloudiness around the plaques, which is conducive of a temperate phage. This is because a temperate phage does not kill every cell it comes across, so the cloudiness around our phage plaques is showing that the phage has thinned the concentration of bacteria but has not killed every phage.
Evolution has said so. Over time there have just become a variety of different kinds of phage that have different characteristics, and because this specific lifecycle of a phage proved effective in allowing phage species to infect bacteria, it has stood the test of time.
Evolution has said so. There are so many different phages with different characteristics and being temperate is just one of them. Over time, phages with this characteristic have proven effective in being able to infect a host, which has lead to this being a leading characteristic of phages over time.
Could phage treatment be dangerous to Humans?
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There are a variety of risks involved in phage therapy because it is still under development. These may include sepsis (in the event that the individual’s immune system reacts to the therapy) as well as possible unknown long term effects. This is why this type of therapy does not yet have FDA approval, but generally phages are not harmful to humans and by nature only infect bacteria.
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Great job! Why are temperate phages not ideal for phage therapy?
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Because of the nature of temperate phages, they are not as effective in killing off a bacterial infection quickly–which is typically more ideal for phage therapy. You can think about lytic phages as almost a bulldozer, destroying every bacterial cell it comes across, while temperate phages are different. They don’t destroy every cell, instead they can integrate their genome into that of the host cell. There have been studies using temperate phages along with CRISPR techniques that have been effective in reversing antibiotic resistance, but in terms of the phage therapy in the scope of this class the techniques used are more reliant on lytic phages.
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What evidence suggested your phage was temperate?
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Simply the morphology of our phage plaques demonstrate the morphology of a temperate phage. So, looking at the plaques that we have grown, you can see a cloudiness around the plaques, which is conducive of a temperate phage. This is because a temperate phage does not kill every cell it comes across, so the cloudiness around our phage plaques is showing that the phage has thinned the concentration of bacteria but has not killed every phage.
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Why don’t temperate phage always immediately kill their bacterial host?
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Evolution has said so. Over time there have just become a variety of different kinds of phage that have different characteristics, and because this specific lifecycle of a phage proved effective in allowing phage species to infect bacteria, it has stood the test of time.
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Evolution has said so. There are so many different phages with different characteristics and being temperate is just one of them. Over time, phages with this characteristic have proven effective in being able to infect a host, which has lead to this being a leading characteristic of phages over time.
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