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High Adsorption Rate Is Detrimental To Bacteriophage Fitness In A Biofilm-Like Environment., Romain Gallet, Yongping Shao, Ing-Nang Wang

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Bacterial biofilm is ubiquitous in nature. However, it is not clear how this crowded habitat would impact the evolution of bacteriophage (phage) life history traits. In this study, we constructed isogenic lambda phage strains that only differed in their adsorption rates, because of the presence/absence of extra side tail fibers or improved tail fiber J, and maker states. The high cell density and viscosity of the biofilm environment was approximated by the standard double-layer agar plate. The phage infection cycle in the biofilm environment was decomposed into three stages: settlement on to the biofilm surface, production of phage progeny …