Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Bacteriophage Ecology Group Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Ghost

A phage virion that lacks nucleic acid, such as can be removed via osmotic shock.

So-modified phages, described as ghosts, can retain their adsorption competence but in at least some cases this results in a traumatization of so-adsorbed bacteria.

T4 phage infections display an "immunity" to the disruptive consequences of secondary adsorption by phage T4 ghosts. This is the definition from Adams (1959, InterScience, p. 440): "A phage particle that appears empty in the electron microscope. In several instances ghosts are known to lack nucleic acid."

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