The evolution of bacteriophage life-history traits: Does host physiology control the success of virulent and temperate strategies?

Bacteriophages are one of the most promising alternatives to antibiotics and provide an effective tool for treating multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. Recent use of bacteriophage as drugs of last resort demonstrate they are effective in treating morbidity associated with chronic Mycobacterium infections. Yet many bacteriophages do not kill their hosts, instead lying dormant as genomic prophages. This is a major limitation of phage therapy, as it is not yet clear why different life-style strategies dominate within different hosts and environments. By using molecular cloning and chemostat based assays I will test various hypotheses that may explain variation in phage life-history traits. This should help inform future approaches to engineer phages for the next generation of phage therapy and highlight the most appropriate clinical systems for their effective use.