ERC Starting Grant · 2021
The evolution of host manipulation by bacteriophage.
The idea of parasite manipulation is well known in animal behaviour, with famous examples like the cordyceps ?zombie? fungus of ants. Yet, the most abundant and diverse parasites on earth do not target animals but rather bacteria. They are the bacteriophages, or phages. My hypothesis is that it is in phages that we will find the most important examples of parasite manipulation, examples that will help us both understand and control bacteria, and their impacts. I will focus on the recently-discovered Regulatory Switch (RS) phage, which reversibly excise and reintegrate into the bacterial chromosome to shift the host between different physiological states. I, and others, have shown that RS…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.