We know that bacteriophages are viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. We know that they are the most abundant organisms on Earth. But we don’t know much about their genetic architecture.
A team of professional scholars and budding scientists–chiefly college freshmen–have joined forces under the aegis of SEA-PHAGES (Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science), which is run jointly by the University of Pittsburgh and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to study the little-known genetics of bacteriophages. In a new paper recently published in the journal eLife, the authors show that phages do not form discrete populations as previously suggested but are rampantly exchanging genes with each other to generate a broad spectrum of genetic diversity, albeit with some types being a lot more prevalent than others.
Of the nearly 3,000 authors, 2,664 were students from among 81 colleges and universities that participate in the SEA-PHAGES undergraduate science program, created by Pitt’s Graham Hatfull and colleagues and funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This paper is believed to have the second-highest number in history of authors on a scientific paper, trailing only that which describes the discovery of the Higgs boson. That paper has more than 6,000 authors.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150511114422.htm
[Abstract]: http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e06416
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ox0000 on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:13PM
Bacteriophages where widely used in soviet Russia (cf. 1997 Horizon episode entitle "The virus that cures" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage#cite_note-horizon-4) [wikipedia.org] as an alternative to antibiotics and quite successfully actually. A lot of that knowledge (on bacteriophages) was lost when the SU collapsed and the subsequent virus 'cultures' could no longer be maintained.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:16PM
But in Soviet Russia, bacteriophages study YOU!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @04:52PM
Phage therapy is unfortunately too specific to be useful for most infections. There isn't a broad-spectrum phage therapy and bacteria are not often eliminated with phage therapy because bacteria can quickly develop resistance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR). Further complicating treatment is that the human immune system will inactivate phage in the bloodstream, so phage therapy would be mostly limited to skin or GI tract infections.
(Score: 1) by chucky on Tuesday May 12 2015, @09:08PM
The article http://www.reflex.cz/clanek/zajimavosti/58556/exkluzivni-reportaz-vrazi-v-roli-zachrancu.html [reflex.cz] - well, you may have hard time reading it - states that the most important virus strains were exported from SU to Germany, namely Leibnitz Institute in Braunschweig. This is from one hospital which specialised in this type of work, but others may be there too.