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Peer-reviewedCC BYCell Systems

Single-cell imaging of the lytic phage life cycle in bacteria

  • Charlie Wedd1,2
  • Ruizhe Li1,2
  • Temur Yunusov3,2
  • Aaron T. Smith3,2
  • Georgeos Hardo1,2
  • Michael Hunter3,2
  • Aparna Kaaraal Mohan1,2
  • Racha Majed3,2
  • Diana Fusco4,2
  • Somenath Bakshi5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
  2. 2University of Cambridge
  3. 3Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
  4. 4Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. Electronic address: [email protected]
  5. 5Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK. Electronic address: [email protected]
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Abstract

Upon infecting a bacterial cell, a lytic bacteriophage commandeers the host's resources to replicate, before lysing the cell to release new virions. As phages are obligate parasites, each stage of the infection process depends on the physiological parameters of the host cell. Given the inherent physiological variability within a population of genetically identical bacterial cells, we ask how the phage infection dynamic reflects such heterogeneity. Here, we introduce a time-lapse imaging assay for investigating the dynamics of individual infection steps by a single T7 phage on a single bacterium. This high-throughput, time-resolved assay enables us to monitor the infection progression simultaneously in multiple cells, uncovering substantial heterogeneity at each step and revealing correlations between infection dynamics and the physiological state of the infected cell. Simulations of competing phage populations reveal that heterogeneity in infection dynamics can significantly impact phage fitness, highlighting it as a potential evolutionary driver of phage-bacteria interactions. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{wedd2026singlecell,
  title = {{Single-cell imaging of the lytic phage life cycle in bacteria}},
  author = {Charlie Wedd and Ruizhe Li and Temur Yunusov and Aaron T. Smith and Georgeos Hardo and Michael Hunter and Aparna Kaaraal Mohan and Racha Majed and Diana Fusco and Somenath Bakshi},
  journal = {Cell Systems},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.cels.2026.101763},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2026.101763},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Single-cell imaging of the lytic phage life cycle in bacteria
AU  - Charlie Wedd
AU  - Ruizhe Li
AU  - Temur Yunusov
AU  - Aaron T. Smith
AU  - Georgeos Hardo
AU  - Michael Hunter
AU  - Aparna Kaaraal Mohan
AU  - Racha Majed
AU  - Diana Fusco
AU  - Somenath Bakshi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Cell Systems
DO  - 10.1016/j.cels.2026.101763
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2026.101763
AB  - Upon infecting a bacterial cell, a lytic bacteriophage commandeers the host's resources to replicate, before lysing the cell to release new virions. As phages are obligate parasites, each stage of the infection process depends on the physiological parameters of the host cell. Given the inherent physiological variability within a population of genetically identical bacterial cells, we ask how the phage infection dynamic reflects such heterogeneity. Here, we introduce a time-lapse imaging assay for investigating the dynamics of individual infection steps by a single T7 phage on a single bacterium. This high-throughput, time-resolved assay enables us to monitor the infection progression simultaneously in multiple cells, uncovering substantial heterogeneity at each step and revealing correlations between infection dynamics and the physiological state of the infected cell. Simulations of competing phage populations reveal that heterogeneity in infection dynamics can significantly impact phage fitness, highlighting it as a potential evolutionary driver of phage-bacteria interactions. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.
SN  - 2405-4712
SN  - 2405-4720
SN  - 2639-5460
ER  -