title: Bacteriophages and their implications on future biotechnology: a review.
abstract: Recently it has been recognized that bacteriophages, the natural predators of bacteria can be used efficiently in modern biotechnology. They have been proposed as alternatives to antibiotics for many antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Phages can be used as biocontrol agents in agriculture and petroleum industry. Moreover phages are used as vehicles for vaccines both DNA and protein, for the detection of pathogenic bacterial strain, as display system for many proteins and antibodies. Bacteriophages are diverse group of viruses which are easily manipulated and therefore they have potential uses in biotechnology, research, and therapeutics. The aim of this review article is to enable the wide range of researchers, scientists, and biotechnologist who are putting phages into practice, to accelerate the progress and development in the field of biotechnology.
authors.affiliation: NUST Center of Virology & Immunology (NCVI), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan. irshadulhaq85@gmail.com
authors.forename: Irshad Ul
authors.initials: IU
authors.lastname: Haq
authors.forename: Waqas Nasir
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.forename: Maha Nadeem
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.forename: Saadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andleeb
authors.forename: Ishtiaq
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Qadri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001419:Bacteria / Q000821:virology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D061046:Biological Control Agents; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D014612:Vaccines
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D061046:Biological Control Agents; D014612:Vaccines