Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Bacteriophage Ecology Group Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Burst Size

The number of phages produced per infected bacterium.

The concept of burst size literally is limited to describing lytic infections, where "burst" refers to the lysis event. Burst sizes can be determined as population averages or, less frequently and requiring substantially more work, on a per-infection basis.

Determination of burst size involves comparing infective centers found in cultures prior to phage-induced bacterial lysis versus infective centers present in cultures following such lysis. Effort also should be made to assure that only a single round of infection occurs (no post-lysis infection prior to enumeration) as well as that no more than approximately one phage infects each infected bacterium. This is the definition from Adams (1959, InterScience, p. 439) for simply "Burst": "Yield of phage liberated by spontaneous lysis of an infected bacterium. This may be measured directly for isolated bacteria in single burst experiments, or as an average burst size in one-step growth experiments. Also the act of liberation."

For more on this topic, see WikipediaGoogle,  and PubMed. Contact web master.  Return to terms.