Genome sequences of Staphylococcus podophages JBug18, Pike, Pontiff, and Pabna

Bacterial viruses, also known as phages, attach to a specific host, inject their DNA, and replicate exponentially while destroying the host. In response, bacteria have evolved a myriad of complex immune systems to fend off invading phages. The goal of this project is to capture and characterize diverse phages in order to probe and understand the defensive and offensive molecular mechanisms that bacteria and phages use against each other.