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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) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 13 2015, @12:41AM
... phages cured infectious disease.
This because the West kept antibiotics away from the Communist Bloc. I was appalled when I found that out, as my life has been saved more than once by antibiotics - the west was killing soviet children because we wanted to have a military advantage over them.
In response, the soviets developed phages. While they are largely out of still now, given that they can import antibiotics, as well as have access to whatever it takes to develop their own, they still do have stockpiles of phases, and use them when antibiotics don't work.
That antibiotic resistance is growing is quite disturbing to me, as a doctor told my mother, in my plain sight, that he was prescribing the last antibiotic available, and that if I got that same throat infection again, my throat would swell shut so I could not breathe. I expect I would have been spared by a tracheotomy, but then that would have made it hard to get laid.
While phages are known in the west, they aren't used, one has to travel to Georgia to get them. To the best of my knowledge they aren't licensed by the FDA, but they could be were someone to conduct the required studies.
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