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Definition: Phage |
PhageNoun1. Virus parasitic in bacteria; multiplies within its host. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "phage" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Phage n. A program that modifies other programs or databases in unauthorized ways; esp. one that propagates a virus or Trojan horse. See also worm, mockingbird. The analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology. Source: Jargon File. |
Medicine | A virus whose host is a bacterial cell ; A virus that exclusively infects bacteria. It generally has a protein coat surrounding the genome(DNA or RNA). One of the coliphages most extensively studied is the lambda phage, which is also one of the most important viral vectors used in rec DNA work. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A phage (also called bacteriophage) is a small virus that infectss only bacteria. Like viruses that infect eukaryotes, they consist of an outer protein hull and the enclosed genetic material (which consists of double-stranded DNA in 95% of the phages known) of 5-650 kbp (kilo base pairs). Phages were discovered independently by Frederick Twort in 1915 and by Félix D’Herelle in 1917.
Phages infect only specific bacteria. Some phages are virulent, meaning that upon infecting a cell they immediately begin reproducing, and within a short time lyse (destroy) the cell, releasing new phages. (A famous quote from the microbiologist Mark Müller says: Bacteria don't die, they just phage away.) Some phages (so-called temperate phages), though, can instead enter a relatively harmless state, either integrating their genetic material into the chromosomal DNA of the host bacterium (much like endogenous retroviruseses in animals) or establishing themselves as plasmids. These endogenous phages, referred to as prophages, are then copied with every cell division together with the DNA of the host cell. They do not kill the cell, but monitor (via some proteins they code for) the status of their host. When the host cell shows signs of stress (meaning it might be about to die soon), the endogenous phages become active again and start their reproductive cycle, resulting in the lysis of the host cell. For this reason, these phages have also been called lysogenic phages. An example is phage &lambda of E. coli. Sometimes, prophages even benefit the host bacterium while they are dormant by adding new functions to the bacterial genome. A famous example is the harmless Vibrio bacteria strain, which is turned into Vibrio cholerae by a phage, causing cholera.
Phages play an important role in molecular biology as cloning vectors to insert DNA into bacteria. They are also being evaluated by medical researchers as an alternative to antibiotics for treating bacterial infections—because killing bacteria is what phages do best.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Phage."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| PhAB | English | Phage antibody | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: PhageSynonym: bacteriophage (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Phage |
| Specialty definitions using "phage": arrayed library, arrayed waveguide grating ♦ Bacteriophage lambda, Bacteriophage M13 ♦ Cosmids ♦ Exfoliatins ♦ lyse, Lysogeny ♦ mini-prep ♦ Pseudomonas Phages ♦ RNA Phages ♦ Salmonella Phages, Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome ♦ T-even, T-Phages ♦ virulent phage, Virus Integration. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
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Theater & Movies | |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Bacillus anthracis Gamma phage lysis on sheep blood agar, the culture is grown at 35 degrees centigrade without carbon dioxide.Credit: CDC. |  | Positive gamma phage test.Credit: CDC. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Phage" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.96% of the time. "Phage" is used about 49 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.96% | 48 | 49,194 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.04% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 49 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "phage": lambda phage ♦ virulent phage. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "phage": phage-infected. | |
Ending with "phage": Beth-phage, lambda-phage. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
phage | 34 |
display phage | 27 |
phage untouchable | 11 |
phage typing | 8 |
m13 phage | 7 |
kga merck phage | 6 |
merck phage | 4 |
lambda phage | 4 |
antibody display phage | 4 |
antibody icos phage | 3 |
germany merck phage | 3 |
phage therapy | 3 |
dna phage sequencing | 3 |
phage press | 3 |
p22 phage | 2 |
phage t4 | 2 |
display library phage | 2 |
display phage technology | 2 |
biotechnology corporation phage | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "phage"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | fag (branch, compartment, department, pigeonhole, section, speciality), bakteriofager (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bakteriofag (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | faagdeeltjes (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), faag (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bakteriofaag (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriophagen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriofagen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriofaagdeeltjes (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriofaag (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | fagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), faagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bakteriofagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bakteriofaagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
French | phage, virus des bactéries, virus bactérien, toute espèce de virus dont l'hôte est une bactérie, bactériophage. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Phagen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Phage (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), D'Herellen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakteriovoren (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakteriophagenteilchen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakteriophagen (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakteriophage (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bakterienpathogene Viren (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakterienfresser (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bakterien zerstörendes Virus ;Bezeichnung für Viren,deren Wirtszellen Bakterien sind.Bakteriophagen bestehen aus einer mehr oder weniger komplizierten,aus unterschiedlichen Proteinen aufgebauten Hülle,in die das virale Erbmaterial verpackt ist.;kleine (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), Bacteriophage (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μεταθετός φάγος (transposable phage), ήπιος φάγος (temperate phage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | virusbatterici (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), fattori lisogenici (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), fago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), fagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), batteriofago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), batteriofagi di d'Hèrelle (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), batteriofagi (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | agephay vírus das bactérias (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), fagos (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), fago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriófagos (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriófago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) бактериофаг. (various references) fago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriófagos (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages), bacteriófago (bacterial virus, bacteriopathogenic viruses, bacteriophage, bacteriophages). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "phage": phages. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "phage": bacteriophage, coliphage, macrophage, microphage, prophage. (additional references) | |
Words containing "phage": bacteriophages, coliphages, esophageal, gastroesophageal, macrophages, microphages, prophages. (additional references) | |
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"Phage" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bahagi, Bhagey, Ephage, phace, phade, phae, phago, phake, phate, phaue, phg, phie, phig, phug, phuge, Pihigia, Poage, pohang, ppage, Prage. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-g-h-p" | |
-1 letter: epha, gape, heap, page, peag. | |
-2 letters: age, ape, gae, gap, hae, hag, hap, hep, pah, pea, peg, peh. | |
-3 letters: ae, ag, ah, eh, ha, he, pa, pe. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-g-h-p" | |
+1 letter: phages. | |
+2 letters: graphed, heaping, hypogea. | |
+3 letters: apophyge, apothegm, epigraph, esophagi, geophagy, grapheme, graphite, heptagon, hypogeal, hypogean, pathogen, peaching, phalange, philabeg, prophage, upgather. | |
+4 letters: apophyges, apothegms, champagne, coliphage, epigraphs, epigraphy, epiphragm, ergograph, esophagus, galumphed, geography, grapeshot, graphemes, graphemic, graphites, hampering, happening, heptagons, hypallage, hypergamy, ideograph, megaphone, oesophagi, oleograph, orphanage, pathogens, phagocyte, phalanger, phalanges, pharynges, philabegs, pigheaded, pleaching, preaching, prophages, repechage, reshaping, serigraph, spaghetti, telegraph, threaping, upgathers, upheaping, upheaving. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 68 61 67 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .... .- --. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "phage" |
