Enteric Populations of Escherichia coli are Likely to be Resistant to Phages Due to O Antigen Production.

isolated from fecal samples are likely to be resistant to their co-existing phages due to production of the O antigen. However, phages can be maintained in populations of mostly resistant bacteria if there is a rapid transition between resistant and sensitive states, a state called leaky resistance. Based on these results, we postulate that bacteriophages are likely playing little role of shaping the abundance and diversity of bacteria in the human gut microbiome in healthy individuals.