Reference entry
Bacteriophage
Plain-English definitions of microbiome research vocabulary — the terms you'll see across articles, testing services, and probiotic claims.
Glossary context
Defined
in the site-wide microbiome glossary
Definition
A virus that specifically infects and replicates within bacteria. Bacteriophages (phages) are the most abundant biological entities on Earth and play a significant role in shaping the composition and evolution of the gut microbiome.