Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Bacteriophage Ecology Group Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Monophage

A therapeutic formulation consisting of only a single phage type.

The concept of a monophage is used in contrast to that of phage cocktail, or polyphage. Note that in principle, contrasting one definition of polyphage, one might also use to term monophage to describe a phage virion into which only a single phage genome has been packaged.

The utility of use of a monophage formulation versus a cocktail is the ease of development. This, however, comes at a cost of versatility, specifically with monophages displaying the narrowest possible antibacterial spectrum of activity, though this breadth will vary depending on phage host range.

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