What is Bacteriophage?

A small virus that infects a specific bacterium is called a bacteriophage, or phage. The 95% known phages consist of an outer protein coat. This contains genetic material made up of DNA, as in other viruses that infect eukaryotes. The DNA is enormously small, between 5 and 300 KBP. 95% of phages possess a tail. This is used to inject their genetic material into the host. From head ™ tail, the length of a bacteriophage is between 4 and 250 nanometers. Impossible, therefore, to view under a microscope. In fact, it is even smaller than the wavelength of light. Of the 200 species of phages, 133 of them belong to the order of Caudovirales. Bacteriophages were and are used in the food industry and in medicine.