Bacteriophage Project

Bacteriophages can be found anywhere bacteria can be found; this is because they specialize in hunting down and killing bacteria. They do this like any other virus. As shown in Figure 2, a virus will land on an unsuspected bacterium and begin injecting its own DNA into its victim. From there the DNA alters the bacteria to begin creating more phages. The bacteria will continue to create more phages until the pressure inside is so high it explodes, releasing all the phages into the area to continue the cycle. The interesting part about bacteriophages, however, is they can be programmed to attack specific bacteria. For years now humans have used antibiotics to fight against harmful bacteria, but as we use more and more, bacteria create an immunity. This creates a super bacterium that even our strongest antibiotics couldn’t effectively defend against. The idea is that phages can be created to hunt down and kill the specific bacteria that is harming us. It may be thought that bacteria would