A phage, such as coliphage M13, that is long and thin in morphology.
Filamentous phages produces chronic productive infections, releasing phages via extrusion (rather than via budding). They are members of phage family Inoviridae.
Filamentous phages are mostly or entirely non-bactericidal, though can be modified genetically to instead kill their hosts (resulting, if this occurs prior to phage production, in an abortive infection). More typically, from a biotechnology perspective, filamentous phages instead are employed in phage display and/or biopanning where foreign genes are cloned into especially phage M13 coat proteins.
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