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 …

Many pathogens have evolved the ability to induce latent infections of their hosts. The
bacteriophage λ is a classical model for exploring the regulation and the evolution of …

The question whether or not “viruses are alive” has caused considerable debate over many
years. Yet, the question is effectively without substance because the answer depends …

Theory predicts that selection for pathogen virulence and horizontal transmission is highest
at the onset of an epidemic but decreases thereafter, as the epidemic depletes the pool of …

When we think about viruses we tend to consider ones that afflict humans—such as those
that cause influenza, HIV, and Ebola. Yet, vastly more viruses infect single-celled microbes …

That communication can occur between virus-infected cells has been appreciated for nearly
as long as has virus molecular biology. The original virus communication process …

Background Many problems in biomedicine and other areas of the life sciences can be
characterized as control problems, with the goal of finding strategies to change a disease or …

Highlights•Life history trade-offs are experienced by both eukaryotic viruses and by
phage.•Experimental evolution is a powerful method to study viral trade-offs.•Intracellular …

The inherent stochastic nature of biochemical processes can drive differences in gene
expression between otherwise identical cells. While cell-to-cell variability in gene …

Phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) are a widespread family of highly mobile
genetic elements that disseminate virulence and toxin genes among bacterial populations …