1.What Does Communication of Phages Mean? Guenther Witzany
2. Phage-Phage, Phage-Bacteria, and Phage-Environment Communication Steve Abedon
3. Phage communication and the ecological implications on microbial interactions, diversity, and function Xiaolong Liang, Mark Radosevich
4. Phage-Phage Interactions Jimmy T. Trinh, Lanying Zeng
5. Social interactions among bacteriophages Pilar Domingo-Calap, Rafael Sanjuán
6. Phage protein interactions in the inhibition mechanism of bacterial cells Chandrabose Selvaraj, Sanjeev Kumar Singh
7. Are phages parasites or symbionts of bacteria? Lorena Rodríguez-Rubio, Pedro Blanco-Picazo, Maite Muniesa
8. Microbial communication networks:sketching a methodology to analyze communication involving bacteriophages inside environmental communities Charles Bernard, Philippe Lopez, Eric Bapteste
9. Information stored in the phage particle: Lactobacillus delbrueckii bacteriophage LLH as a case Patricia Munsch-Alatossava, Tapani Alatossava
10. Archaeal viruses and their interactions with CRISPR-Cas systems Roger A. Garrett, Shiraz A. Shah, Laura Martinez-Alvarez, Xu Peng
11. Filamentous phages affect virulence of the phytopathogen Ralstonia solanacearum Yuichi Tasaka, Takeru Kawasaki, Takashi Yamada
12. Intra-population interactions and the evolution of RNA phages Esther Lazaro
13. ssRNA phages: life cycle,structure and applications Kaspars Tars
14. Phages as therapy or "dietary supplements"against multiresistant bacteria? Karin Moelling
15. Bacteriophage applications and biological safety (or how should I train my dog not to bite me!) Robert Armon
16. Phage therapy: an alternative to antibiotics Elena Criscuolo, Sara Spadini
17. Bacteriophage as a therapeutic agent to combat bacterial infection: A journey from history to application Umesh Panwar, Murali Aarthy, Sanjeev Kumar Singh
18. Phagetherapy: Clinical applications – Critical appraisal of randomized controlled trials Xavier Wittebole, Steve Opal
19. Bacteriophage therapies targets multiple diseases caused by protein misfolding Beka Solomon
20. Phage therapy in cystic fibrosis. Challenges and perspectives Ersilia Vita Fiscarelli, Martina Rossitto, Paola Rosati
21. Bacteriophage applications for food Safety Ayman El-Shibiny, Alyaa Dawoud
22. Bacteriophages for environmental applications: Effect of trans-organismic communication on wastewater treatments Soumya Chatterjee, Sonika Sharma
Guenther Witzany is philosopher and developed a new philosophy of biology based on the current empirical data in all domains of cellular life, virology and RNA-biology. In a series of books he applied his theory of biocommunication to all organismic kingdoms. Theory of biocommunication is the first and only theory that integrates all living agents empiristically in a non-reductionistic and non-mechanistic way and opens a ground breaking understanding of life through analyses of sign-mediated interactions within and between cells, tissues, organs, and organisms.
This is the first book to systemize all levels of communicative behavior of phages. Phages represent the most diverse inhabitants on this planet. Until today they are completely underestimated in their number, skills and competences and still remain the dark matter of biology.
Phages have serious effects on global energy and nutrient cycles. Phages actively compete for host. They can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ (complement same, preclude others). They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. These diverse competences show us that this capacity to evaluate information is possible owing to communication processes within phages (intra-organismic), between the same, related and different phage species (interorganismic), and between phages and non-phage organisms (transorganismic). This is crucial in coordinating infection strategies (lytic vs. lysogenic) and recombination in phage genomes.
In 22 chapters, expert contributors review current research into the varying forms of phage biocommunication and Phagetherapy.
Biocommunication of Phages aims to assess the current state of research, to orient further investigations on how phages communicate with each other to coordinate their behavioral patterns, and to inspire further investigation of the role of non-phage viruses (non-lytic, non-prokaryotic) in these highly dynamic interactional networks.