Viruses that infect microbial hosts have traditionally been studied in laboratory settings with
a focus on either obligate lysis or persistent lysogeny. In the environment, these infection …

Bacteriophages, discovered about a century ago, have been pivotal as models for
understanding the fundamental principles of molecular biology. While interest in phage …

Bacterial populations are highly adaptive. They can respond to stress and survive in shifting
environments. How the behaviours of individual bacteria vary during stress, however, is …

Many systems on our planet shift abruptly and irreversibly from the desired state to an
undesired state when forced across a “tipping point”. Some examples are mass extinctions …

Nearly half of the sequenced bacteria are lysogens and many of their prophages encode
adaptive traits. Yet, the variables driving prophage distribution remain undetermined. We …

Highlights•Phages drive horizontal gene transfer between prokaryotes.•Lysogenic
conversion provides novel adaptive traits, at the cost of eventual lysis.•Prophages account …

Cellular decision making is the process whereby cells assume different, functionally
important and heritable fates without an associated genetic or environmental difference …

Biochemical reactions are intrinsically stochastic, leading to variation in the production of
mRNAs and proteins within cells. In the scientific literature, this source of variation is typically …

Cells operate in dynamic environments using extraordinary communication capabilities that
emerge from the interactions of genetic circuitry. The mammalian immune response is a …

Single-cell measurements and lineage-tracing experiments are revealing that phenotypic
cell-to-cell variability is often the result of deterministic processes, despite the existence of …