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In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in interest in human microbiome studies. The great part of this study area is covered by bacteria; however, bacteriophages (phages, viruses able to infect bacteria) also play a crucial role in this structure. Phages, as a significant part of the microbiome, have become the subject of increasing interest. Nevertheless, studies of the phageome remain challenging due to the great diversity of these viruses and lack of universal markers (unlike bacteria which have 16S rRNA for identification) (1). Traditional methods of phage identification based on bacterial host cultures have limited applicability for phage detection, mostly due to the significant contribution of laboratory unculturable or difficult-to-culture bacteria that are hosts for many phages constituting the phageome. These barriers have been overcome to some extent by the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing like next-generation sequencing (NGS). Application of this technology was a milestone in phageome studies (2). NGS has become the major tool for exploring and investigating phage presence in biological samples. Sequencing-based molecular methods have revealed that many human niches are inhabited by unique and place-specific microbiomes including phages (3). Due to the development of metagenomic profiling, comprehensive analysis of phages inhabiting different compartments of human bodies has become possible. These analyses demonstrated that phages are most abundant in the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, skin, and lungs (4).

YouTube video by American Society for Microbiology