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Extensive work is now under way to elucidate the effects of the gut microbiome on health and disease. One component of this microbiome — resident phages — has received little attention. These symbionts can contribute genes advantageous to their microbial hosts, thereby promoting their own survival. To determine whether the phage metagenome (or phageome) is influenced by environmental factors such as antibiotic treatment, investigators in Boston assessed changes in the gut phageome of mice after 8 weeks of exposure to ciprofloxacin or ampicillin.
The gut phageomes of ciprofloxacin-exposed mice were enriched with genes encoding quinolone efflux pumps, whereas those of ampicillin-exposed mice were enriched with genes encoding regulators of cell…