The microbes could surrender to the harmless virus, but instead freeze in place, dormant, waiting for their potential predator to go away, according to a recent study in mBio. University of Illinois ...

A newly discovered virus hiding inside a common gut bacterium could help explain one of medicine’s long-standing mysteries: why a microbe found in both healthy people and cancer patients is linked to ...

Yibin Zhu’s work highlights how microbiota from both the hosts and vectors can either promote or suppress virus transmission.

Like people, bacteria get invaded by viruses. In bacteria, the viral invaders are called bacteriophages, derived from the Greek word for bacteria-eaters, or in shortened form, "phages." Scientists ...

A newly discovered parasite has caused quite a stir among microbiologists who were left scrambling to place it on the tree of life – and it seems even the organism itself is confused as to its ...

Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, could be genetically manipulated to destroy cancerous cells using the immunity we have ...

Viruses, often seen only as disease-causing agents, may hold surprising potential as natural allies in the fight against climate change. A new study published in Nitrogen Cycling reveals that soil ...

Scientists say they have shed new light on how bacteria protect themselves from certain phage invaders -- by seizing genetic material from weakened, dormant phages and using it to 'vaccinate' ...