I am Jeremy J Barr (/u/JeremyJBarr), the lead author on a recent, open access, PNAS paper Bacteriophage adhering to mucus provide a non-host-derived immunity.

Our research from The Rohwer Lab at San Diego State University investigates a new symbiosis formed between bacteriophage, which are tiny viruses that only infect and kill bacteria, and mucus, the slimy, protective coating found in your mouth, lungs, gut, and also on a large number of other animals, such as fish, corals, and worms.

We show that bacteriophage, or phage for short, stick to mucus surfaces across a diverse range of organisms. They do this by displaying an immunoglobulin-like protein fold on their capsid, or head, which grabs hold of sugars found within mucus. These mucus-adherent phage reduce the number of bacteria that grow on mucosal surfaces and protect the underlying animal host from infection.

This symbiotic interaction benefits the mucus-producing animal host by limiting mucosal bacterial infections, and benefits the mucus-adherent phage through more frequent interactions with bacterial hosts. We call this symbiosis/immunity, Bacteriophage Adherence to Mucus, or BAM for short. BAM could have significant impacts across a diverse number of fields, including, human immunity, prevention of mucosal infections, phage therapy, and environmental/biotechnology applications.

You can read about our work further at Nature News, National Geographic, ScienceNOW, The Economist, and Small Things Considered blog post for a detailed summary on the experimental thought process.

Ask me anything about our paper!