Bacteriophage particles are the most abundant biological entities on our planet, infecting specific bacterial hosts in every known environment and being major drivers of bacterial adaptive evolution. The study of bacteriophage particles potentially sheds light on the development of new biotechnology products. Bacteriophage therapy, although not new, makes use of strictly lytic phage particles as an alternative in the antimicrobial treatment of resistant bacterial infections and is being rediscovered as a safe method due to the fact that these biological entities devoid of any metabolic machinery do not have affinity to eukaryotic cells. Furthermore, bacteriophage-based vaccination is emerging as one of the most promising preventive strategies. This review paper discusses the biological nature of bacteriophage particles, their mode(s) of action and potential exploitation in modern biotechnology. Topics covered in detail include the potential of bacteriophage particles in human infections (bacteriophage therapy), nanocages for gene delivery, food biopreservation and safety, biocontrol of plant pathogens, phage display, bacterial biosensing devices, vaccines and vaccine carriers, biofilm and bacterial growth control, surface disinfection, corrosion control, together with structural and functional stabilization issues.

噬菌体颗粒是我们星球上最丰富的生物实体，在每个已知环境中感染特定的细菌宿主，并且是细菌适应性进化的主要驱动力。噬菌体颗粒的研究有可能为新的生物技术产品的开发提供启示。噬菌体疗法虽然不是新技术，但在抗药性细菌感染的抗菌治疗中采用严格溶解的噬菌体颗粒作为替代方法，由于这些缺乏任何代谢机制的生物实体没有亲和力，因此被重新发现为一种安全的方法真核细胞。此外，基于噬菌体的疫苗接种正在作为最有前途的预防策略之一出现。这篇评论文章讨论了噬菌体颗粒的生物学性质，它们在现代生物技术中的作用方式和潜在利用。详细讨论的主题包括噬菌体颗粒在人类感染中的潜力（噬菌体治疗），用于基因传递的纳米笼，食品生物保存和安全性，植物病原体的生物防治，噬菌体展示，细菌生物传感设备，疫苗和疫苗载体，生物膜和细菌生长控制，表面消毒，腐蚀控制以及结构和功能稳定性问题。