coliphage

[kol-uh-feyj]

noun

1. any bacteriophage that specifically infects the Escherichia coli bacterium.

Word History and Origins

Origin of coliphage¹

1940–45; < New Latin coli- ( coliform ) + -phage

Example Sentences

Some phages like Coliphage 186 have figured out that they don't need their own viral CI protein if they have a short DNA sequence in their chromosomes that bacterial LexA can bind to.

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Scientists first reported CI's role in phage decision-making in the 1980s and Coliphage 186's counterintelligence trick in the late 1990s.

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