Viruses

What are viruses?

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites.

What are bacteriophages?

A type of virus that infects bacteria and also is simply known as a phage.

The bacteriophages' claim to fame is that they can pick up genes from the bacteria they infect and transfer them to other bacteria (see page ).

Figure 7.1: Bacteriophage: notice the top portion (icosahedral head), middle section (tail) and bottom portion (plate with tail fibers).