ArticlePloS one2009
The secret life of the anthrax agent Bacillus anthracis: bacteriophage-mediated ecological adaptations.
Article in PloS one, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 176 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bacteriophages in the Rhizosphere: Roles in Nutrient Cycling, Bacterial Community Structure, and Animal-Mediated Dispersal.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- Anthrax-causing bacteria form biofilms on a soil-inspired porous glass bead model.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Identification of a novel bacteriophage attachment site into ffs, the 4.5S non-coding RNA component of the signal recognition particle.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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- Re-evaluating what makes a phage unsuitable for therapy.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
- Tunturi virus isolates and metagenome-assembled viral genomes provide insights into the virome of Acidobacteriota in Arctic tundra soils.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Self-splicing introns in genes of Bastillevirinae bacteriophages.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Soil viral diversity, ecology and climate change.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2023Review
- Phage-Encoded Sigma Factors Alter Bacterial Dormancy.mSphere · 2022Article
- Role of serine/threonine protein phosphatase PrpN in the life cycle of Bacillus anthracis.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
- Deconstructing the Phage-Bacterial Biofilm Interaction as a Basis to Establish New Antibiofilm Strategies.Viruses · 2022Review
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- Article
- Transposable Prophages in Leptospira: An Ancient, Now Diverse, Group Predominant in Causative Agents of Weil's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- The bacteriophage decides own tracks: When they are with or against the bacteria.Current research in microbial sciences · 2021Review
- Archaeal tyrosine recombinases.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2021Review
- Spore-Associated Proteins Involved in c-di-GMP Synthesis and Degradation of Bacillus anthracis.Journal of bacteriology · 2021Article
- The roles of antimicrobial resistance, phage diversity, isolation source and selection in shaping the genomic architecture ofMicrobial genomics · 2021Article
- The roles of environmental variation and parasite survival in virulence-transmission relationships.Royal Society open science · 2021Review
- Temperate Bacteriophages-The Powerful Indirect Modulators of Eukaryotic Cells and Immune Functions.Viruses · 2021Review
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Ecological and genetic factors that govern the occurrence and persistence of anthrax reservoirs in the environment are obscure. A central tenet, based on limited and often conflicting studies, has long held that growing or vegetative forms of Bacillus anthracis survive poorly outside the mammalian host and must sporulate to survive in the environment. Here, we present evidence of a more dynamic lifecycle, whereby interactions with bacterial viruses, or bacteriophages, elicit phenotypic alterations in B. anthracis and the emergence of infected derivatives, or lysogens, with dramatically altered survival capabilities. Using both laboratory and environmental B. anthracis strains, we show that lysogeny can block or promote sporulation depending on the phage, induce exopolysaccharide expression and biofilm formation, and enable the long-term colonization of both an artificial soil environment and the intestinal tract of the invertebrate redworm, Eisenia fetida. All of the B. anthracis lysogens existed in a pseudolysogenic-like state in both the soil and worm gut, shedding phages that could in turn infect non-lysogenic B. anthracis recipients and confer survival phenotypes in those environments. Finally, the mechanism behind several phenotypic changes was found to require phage-encoded bacterial sigma factors and the expression of at least one host-encoded protein predicted to be involved in the colonization of invertebrate intestines. The results here demonstrate that during its environmental phase, bacteriophages provide B. anthracis with alternatives to sporulation that involve the activation of soil-survival and endosymbiotic capabilities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.