Abstract
Fundamental to the ecology of bacteria are bacteriophages (phages), a major source of bacterial mortality. Functionally, bacteria are protected from these viruses through resistance, where they are refractory, and immunity, where the phages infect but do not replicate. Immunity is the mechanism by which lysogenic bacteria are protected from temperate phage infections. This is what we know from studies of lysogens in the laboratory, but what about the real world? We address this question with mathematical models and experiments using Escherichia coli, λ-phage, and naturally occurring E. coli lysogens. Our study demonstrates that naturally occurring lysogens are resistant (refractory) to the phage coded by their prophage. We therefore postulate that lysogenic bacteria are likely resistant rather than only immune to temperate phages.
One-Sentence Summary Naturally occurring lysogens are likely to be resistant, and not only immune, to bacteriophages encoded by their prophage.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵‡ Adaptive Phage Therapeutics; Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20878, USA
