Why do phage play dice?

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Mikkel Avlund
  • Ian B Dodd
  • Szabolcs Semsey
  • Sneppen, Kim
  • Sandeep Krishna

Phage lambda is among the simplest organisms that make a developmental decision. An infected bacterium goes either into the lytic state, where the phage particles rapidly replicate and eventually lyse the cell, or into a lysogenic state, where the phage goes dormant and replicates along with the cell. Experimental observations by P. Kourilsky are consistent with a single phage infection deterministically choosing lysis and double infection resulting in a stochastic choice. We argue that the phage are playing a "game" of minimizing the chance of extinction and that the shift from determinism to stochasticity is due to a shift from a single-player to a multiplayer game. Crucial to the argument is the clonal identity of the phage.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Virology
Volume83
Issue number22
Pages (from-to)11416-20
Number of pages5
ISSN0022-538X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2009
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Bacteriophage lambda, Game Theory, Lysogeny, Probability, Stochastic Processes, Virus Activation, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

ID: 163917171