Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous special issue "Understanding Phage Particles".

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that only infect and kill bacteria. They are the most abundant biological entities on earth, occupying all ecological niches where they have a decisive role in the balance and evolution of bacterial ecosystems. Phages shape bacterial population dynamics and can significantly alter both intra- and interspecific competition among their bacterial hosts. Phage particles are vehicles for horizontal gene transfer, and many bacterial virulence and fitness factors are encoded by phages or phage-like elements. Advances in phage biology research have led to the study of these phage–host interactions and their exploitation to obtain phages and phage-based products for their application in different settings, such as agricultural and food industry as well as in clinical settings.

With this Special Issue, we want to provide an update on those phage–host interactions, especially, but not limited to, interactions involving horizontal gene transfer, modification of the bacterial fitness, the role of phage particles as reservoirs of bacterial genes, their role as drivers of evolution for bacterial communities, as well as an update on the potential of phages and phage-based products for phage therapy and other applications.

Dr. Lorena Rodriguez-Rubio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• bacteriophages
• transduction
• horizontal gene transfer
• coevolution
• bacterial fitness
• phage therapy