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Cited by 7Bacteriophages and microbial interactionsPlant and Fungal Interactions ResearchEvolution and Genetic Dynamics

Tapping the treasure trove of atypical phages

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Roux, Simon, Mutalik, Vivek K·2024·Current Opinion in Microbiology
DOI 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102555
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Abstract

With advancements in genomics technologies, a vast diversity of 'atypical' phages, that is, with single-stranded DNA or RNA genomes, are being uncovered from different ecosystems. Though these efforts have revealed the existence and prevalence of these nonmodel phages, computational approaches often fail to associate these phages with their specific bacterial host(s), while the lack of methods to isolate these phages has limited our ability to characterize infectivity pathways and new gene function. In this review, we call for the development of generalizable experimental methods to better capture this understudied viral diversity via isolation and study them through gene-level characterization and engineering. Establishing a diverse set of new 'atypical' phage model systems has the potential to provide many new biotechnologies, including potential uses of these atypical phages in halting the spread of antibiotic resistance and engineering of microbial communities for beneficial outcomes.

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  • Recent technologies for bacterial phenotyping and phage receptor identification enable predictive modeling.

    “Recent technologies for bacterial phenotyping and phage receptor identification enable predictive modeling [90,151–156]”

    From Phage therapy in oncology: opportunities for cancer prevention and treatment (2026) · cites this paper as [156]

    The Isolation methods section (p. 7) describes high-throughput genetic screens that identify phage receptors and characterize host responses to phage selection. The Conclusions (p. 8) mention predicted host interactions, but the paper does not say that these phenotyping and receptor-identification technologies enable predictive modeling. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Roux, S., & Mutalik, V. K.
Affiliations
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
Corresponding author
Mutalik, Vivek K
ORCID
Venue
Current Opinion in Microbiology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2024-12
Volume
82
Pages
102555
ISSN
1369-5274 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.mib.2024.102555
OpenAlex
W4403314688
Cited by
7
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1
FWCI
0.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Microbiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy (-AC02-05CH11231, 05CH11231, DE AC02 05CH11231, DE-AC02-)
  • Joint Genome Institute (AC02-05CH11231, DE–AC02–05CH11231)
  • Office of Science (DEAC02–05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (AC02‐05CH11231, DE-AC02-05CH11231, 05CH11231)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Endocrinology › Plant and Fungal Interactions Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
Keywords
single-stranded DNA phages, phage isolation, phage gene function, phage engineering, phage diversity, antibiotic resistance, microbial community engineering
MeSH terms
Bacteria, Bacteriophages, Genome, Viral, Genomics

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