• Question: What type of viruses that kill bacteria are u thinking?

    Asked by Sanah? to Oli on 4 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Oliver Charity

      Oliver Charity answered on 4 Nov 2016:

      Hi Sanah,

      Well, the viruses which kill bacteria are called ‘Bacteriophage’ – this just means ‘bacteria eating’. They are a very diverse group of viruses which look a lot like insects and are probably the oldest virues in the world. There are more bacteriophage in the world than any other biological thing, and therefore they control a lot of our systems, like the climate and nutrient cycle.

      The particular types I use are versions of a bacteriophage called ‘p22’ which is used to kill Salmonella, a nasty tummy bug.

      Have a look at them yourself:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage

      I hope this answers your question 🙂

      Oli

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