PE&RC collaboration grant for Lisa van Sluijs

How do motionless phages travel through soil? Lisa van Sluijs, Kyle-Mason Jones (NIOO), Mark Zwart (NIOO) and Hans Helder will use the recently awarded PE&RC collaboration grant to investigate if nematodes could provide phages a ride to new bacterial colonies. Therefore they will set up a novel experimental system, containing nematodes, bacteria and phages in spatially structured environments. In this system the mechanisms of phage transfer and co-existence of the species will be monitored. Thereby, this project will elucidate the potentially overlooked role of nematode-mediated phage transfer in soil biodiversity.