Keywords
Phage therapy
Antimicrobial resistance
One health
How to Cite
Societal impact
Abstract
Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are viruses that infect bacteria exclusively. Since the mid-20th century, they have assisted scientists in elucidating fundamental questions in biology, such as the nature of the molecule that encodes hereditary traits, the enzymatic recognition of specific DNA sequences, the process of DNA replication, DNA sequencing, gene regulation and operons, among others. Today, due to the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), there is a renewed interest in their role as regulators of bacterial populations responsible for infections, a role attributed to them upon their discovery and known as phage therapy. This article presents the current state of knowledge regarding the basic biology of bacteriophages relevant to their application in phage therapy, the contemporary understanding of phage-bacteria interactions, as well as the advances and challenges facing phage therapy in a society threatened by antimicrobial resistance.
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