| Comments |
Ref:"More than 5100 phages belonging to 13 families have been described since 1959 and 96% are tailed phages [28]. In keeping with this observation, tailed phages are the
most abundant phages in the marine environment (for review see [9]). Indeed, it has been estimated that there are more than 10^30 tailed phages in the biosphere [primary source]." Primary source:"96% of all bacterial viruses are tailed phages (Caudovirales)...There are an estimated >10^30 tailed phages in the biosphere (figure 2), and since phage particles typically outnumber prokaryotic cells by about 10-fold in environmental samples, the tailed phages probably constitute an absolute majority of “organisms” on our home planet in sheer numbers." |