Michael Brockhurst (@brockhurstlab.bsky.social)

Diverse and abundant phages exploit conjugative plasmids - Nature Communications Some phages use plasmid-encoded conjugation proteins as receptors to infect their bacterial hosts, making their host range dependent on horizontal transfer of the plasmid. Here, the authors present a method for identification of new plasmid-dependent phages, and find that they are common and abundant in wastewater and their genetic diversity is largely unexplored. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47416-z