MULTIPLY TO LARGE NUMBERS

Viruses can work where antibiotics don't - new research tells us more about how they fight bacteria

​When faced with a powerful CRISPR defence, phages want to automatically produce large amounts of anti-CRISPR to increase the chance of inhibiting CRISPR immunity. But excessive production of anti-CRISPR prevents the replication of the phage and is ultimately toxic. This is why control is important.