Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Bacteriophage Ecology Group Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Residual Fraction

A subpopulation within a phage stock that displays slower adsorption rates than the majority of the stock.

Often this fraction is present as a few percent, or at lower frequencies, and as a phage population that remains free following prolonged (many hours) of adsorption.

The concept of a residual fraction is somewhat generic and here is being defined according the usage of Delbrück (1942, Advances in Enzymology 2, 1-32) who noted (p. 17) that "a given suspension of virus is inhomogeneous with respect to its affinity to the bacteria."

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