Largest Bacteriophage Is Now Discovered. It Bridges the Gap Between Living and Nonliving.

Bacteriophages typically have small genomes and depend on their bacterial hosts for replication. Yet, recent study changes this concept.

On February 12, 2020, an unprecedented study published in the journal Nature discovered the largest bacteriophage, with a genome of 735,000 base pairs. This gigantic bacteriophage is nearly 15 times larger than the average phage. It blurs the line between living and nonliving.


It is expected that there will be a lot of potential for finding new tools for genome engineering in these huge phages.




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