Arms race between vibrios and their phage predators

Abstract

Given the threat posed by the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria, phages (viruses able to infect bacteria) are emerging as a potential alternative to the use of antibiotics. For a correct implementation of phage therapy, we need to decipher the mechanisms of interaction between phages and bacteria. In this thesis, we study the arms race between vibrios and their phage predators. We explore how phage populations counter the host defense systems, how this affects phage specificity and how host ecology and genetic structure feeds back on phage ecology and genetic diversity of both host and phages. Also, we identify PICMI, a new family of phage satellite in Vibrionaceae, adding a level of complexity to the coevolution between viruses and their bacterial hosts in their ecological and evolutionary dynamics.