The likelihood of phage irreversible adsorption given collision with a bacterium.
Adsorption affinity is one component of the phage adsorption constant, the other two being rates of phage diffusion, which defines how fast a phage can travel to the vicinity of a bacterium, and bacterial target size, defining the likelihood of phage-bacterium collision given approximate co-location. See also adsorption efficiency.
The affinity that a phage has for the surface of a bacterium can by further subdivided into three components: (1) the phage ability to interact with and attach to the phage receptor molecule given collision of that molecule with the appropriate phage adsorption protein, (2) the density of phage receptor molecules found on the surface of a bacterium (since a phage has to collide with a molecule to interact with it/attach to it), and (3) the degree to which the molecule is not hidden such as under extracellular polymeric substances.
For consideration of the evolution of phage adsorption affinity as a phage adaptation, see Chan and Abedon (2012).
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