Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Microbiol. 2019 Nov 16;28(2):85–94. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2019.10.007

Figure 1. Phage steering of bacterial virulence and antibiotic resistance.

Figure 1.

Selection for bacterial resistance to phages at specific targets reduces bacterial virulence (A and C) or antibiotic resistance (B and D). As seen in C, the fitness of resistant bacteria (black line) increases due to phage pressure, while virulence (red line) declines. D shows a similar interaction, but this time focusing on antibiotic resistant mechanisms. The fitness of phage-resistant bacteria (black line) increases as phage replicate, and there is coetaneous decline in average antibiotic resistance (red line). Subsequent administration of antibiotics would reduce the fitness of these now antibiotic sensitive cells.