Lysins to kill: A tale of viral weapons of mass destruction

Authors

Jim O'Mahony, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, IrelandFollow
Mark Fenton, Cork Institute of Technology
Marine Henry, Cork Institute of Technology
Roy D. Sleator, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, IrelandFollow
Aidan Coffey, Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, IrelandFollow

Abstract

“Your mission should you choose to accept, is to locate the enemy, silently dock on the cell surface and inject the genetic blueprint. Once inside, you must then hijack the host’s cellular machinery and assemble multiple clones. Working quickly then, slice open the cell wall perimeter and escape to repeat the process on the remaining enemy hosts” Although farfetched, this passage describes the efficient killing machinery of bacteriophages, and depicts the events which occur millions of times in nature every day as bacteria succumb to their tiny deadly nemeses.

Disciplines

Biology

DOI

10.4161/bbug.2.6.16804

Full Publication Date

January 2011

Publication Details

Bioengineered Bugs

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Resource Type

contribution to journal

Access Rights

restricted access

Recommended Citation

O'Mahony, Jim; Fenton, Mark; Henry, Marine; Sleator, Roy D.; and Coffey, Aidan, "Lysins to kill: A tale of viral weapons of mass destruction" (2011). Department of Biological Sciences Publications [online].
Available at: https://doi.org/10.4161/bbug.2.6.16804