Phage and Yeast Display

Bacteriophage (phage) are viruses that infect and replicate within bacterial cells. Filamentous phage particles inject single-stranded DNA into target bacterial cells for subsequent replication and assembly of new virions within the host cytoplasm. The filamentous phage species capable of infecting Escherichia coli manifest as long, thin filaments that are secreted from host bacteria without cell lysis. Due to their ease of manipulation and stability in a range of temperatures and pH, F pilus-specific filamentous phage species, including f1, fd, and M13, serve as reliable vehicles for combinatorial technologies, such as phage display (1 – 4).