Resistance against two lytic phage variants attenuates virulence and antibiotic resistance in .

Background: Bacteriophage therapy is becoming part of mainstream Western medicine since antibiotics of clinical use tend to fail. It involves applying lytic bacteriophages that self-replicate and induce cell lysis, thus killing their hosts. Nevertheless, bacterial killing promotes the selection of resistant clones which sometimes may exhibit a decrease in bacterial virulence or antibiotic resistance.

Myriad applications of bacteriophages beyond phage therapy.

Bacteriophages are the most abundant biological entity on the planet, having pivotal roles in bacterial ecology, animal and plant health, and in the biogeochemical cycles. Although, in principle, phages are simple entities that replicate at the expense of their bacterial hosts, due the importance of bacteria in all aspects of nature, they have the potential to influence and modify diverse processes, either in subtle or profound ways. Traditionally, the main application of bacteriophages is phage therapy, which is their utilization to combat and help to clear bacterial infections, from enteric diseases, to skin infections, chronic infections, sepsis, .