باکتریوفاژ Bacteriophage
Bacteriophage, also called phage or bacterial virus, any of a group of viruses that infect bacteria. Bacteriophages were discovered independently by Frederick W. Twort in Great Britain (1915) and Félix d’Hérelle in France (1917). D’Hérelle coined the term bacteriophage, meaning “bacteria eater,” to describe the agent’s bacteriocidal ability.
Bacteriophages also infect the single-celled prokaryotic organisms known as archaea.
They are now believed to represent the most abundant biological entities with an estimated range of 10(30) to 10(32) total phage particles on earth, assuming that they outnumber bacteria about 10-fold.2 These bacterial viruses are present in ecosystems where bacteria have been found, including man-made ecological niches such as food fermentation vats. The industry has been dealing with this biological phenomenon for many years now and has relied on a variety of practical approaches to control phages, which include adapted factory design, improved sanitation, adequate ventilation, process changes, improved starter medium, and culture rotation.
Despite extensive efforts, however, phage infection of starter LAB cultures remains the most common cause of slow or incomplete fermentation in the dairy industry, and both researchers and industrial technologists are aware of regular, although unpublished, cases where phage infections actually cause product downgrading.
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