Bacteriophages as Agents for Plant Disease Control: Where Are We After a Century? (Viruses review)

Review by Choudhary, Bankole, McDuffee, Parajuli, Poudel, Balogh, Paret and Jones in Viruses on bacteriophages as biocontrol agents against plant bacterial diseases, as an alternative to antibiotics. It discusses barriers to implementation including environmental stability, delivery efficiency, host specificity and potential bacterial resistance, and highlights genetic-engineering and nanotechnology strategies to improve the stability, efficacy and adaptability of phage-based treatments.