Phage-bacteria interactions

Summary

We develop computational approaches to predict bacterial strain susceptibility to phages and to understand the genomic basis of phage-bacteria coevolution. Our work spans molecular mechanisms of phage defense — including phage defense by deaminase-mediated depletion of deoxynucleotides — to genomic signatures of ecotypic divergence in Prochlorococcus light ecotypes. We are now extending these approaches to systematically predict which bacterial strains are susceptible to which phages, with direct applications to phage-based therapeutic strategies for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections.