Unveiling the “dark matter” of phage metagenomes through universal hosts

The vast majority of bacteriophages (phages) in complex ecological nieces like the gut remain uncharacterized due to methodological shortcomings and unavailability of suitable bacterial hosts. This project will look into the huge “dark matter” of unexplored phages by propagating the “non-cultivable” phages through universal host cell. For the first time, light will be shed on the “dark matter” phages. We aim to purify, propagate, characterize and engineer the novel phages, which will potentially lead to a paradigm-shift in phage based therapeutics and biocontrol.