Viruses that infect microbial hosts have traditionally been studied in laboratory settings with
a focus on either obligate lysis or persistent lysogeny. In the environment, these infection …

A multiagent system should be capable of fast and flexible decision-making to successfully
manage the uncertainty, variability, and dynamic change encountered when operating in the …

Temperate viruses can become dormant in their host cells, a process called lysogeny. In
every infection, such viruses decide between the lytic and the lysogenic cycles, that is …

Bacterial populations are highly adaptive. They can respond to stress and survive in shifting
environments. How the behaviours of individual bacteria vary during stress, however, is …

Bacteriophages, discovered about a century ago, have been pivotal as models for
understanding the fundamental principles of molecular biology. While interest in phage …

Although bacteriophages have been overshadowed as therapeutic agents by antibiotics for
decades, the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and a better understanding of the …

In nature, bacteria primarily live in surface-attached, multicellular communities, termed
biofilms,,,,–. In medical settings, biofilms cause devastating damage during chronic and …

Highlights•Phages drive horizontal gene transfer between prokaryotes.•Lysogenic
conversion provides novel adaptive traits, at the cost of eventual lysis.•Prophages account …

Cellular decision making is the process whereby cells assume different, functionally
important and heritable fates without an associated genetic or environmental difference …

Biochemical reactions are intrinsically stochastic, leading to variation in the production of
mRNAs and proteins within cells. In the scientific literature, this source of variation is typically …