Phage
Short for bacteriophage, a virus that lives within a bacteria. A virus for which the natural host is a bacterial cell.
Bacteriophages have been very important and heuristic in bacterial and molecular genetics. Phages were studied by (among others) Alfred Hershey, Max Delbruck and Salvador Luria who discovered that viruses could exchange genetic material. Hershey and a graduate student Martha Chase at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory found that nucleic acid alone could cause viral replication and transmit genetic information. The classic Hershey and Chase experiment provided some of the key proof that genes were made of DNA.
The “phage group” (Hershey, Delbruck and Luria) went on to share the 1969 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning “the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses.” Delbruck died in 1981, Luria in 1991, and Hershey in 1997. The famous “phage group” is thus gone but their legacy and that of the phages lives on.
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- Phago-
phagocyte, a cell that can engulf particles; and phagophobia, an excessive fear of eating.
- Phagocyte
A cell that can engulf particles, such as bacteria and other microorganisms or foreign matter. The principal phagocytes include the neutrophils and monocytes, both of which are types of white blood cells.
- Phagocytosis
The process by which a cell engulfs particles such as bacteria, other microorganisms, aged red blood cells, foreign matter, etc. The principal phagocytes include the neutrophils and monocytes (types of white blood cells). The prefix “phago-” comes from the Greek “phago” meaning “to eat.”
- Phalangeal
Pertaining to a phalanx (a bone in the finger or toe).