What Is Superinfection Immunity?

Superinfection immunity is typically associated with lysogeny and appears to be a consequence of the same mechanisms that prevent prophage induction. Ecologically, immunity serves to prevent bacteria from being infected by two or more related prophage, or to protect the lysogen from being lysed.

What is superinfection?

Medical Definition of superinfection

: a second infection superimposed on an earlier one especially by a different microbial agent of exogenous or endogenous origin that is resistant to the treatment used against the first infection.

What is phage superinfection?

Introduction. Superinfection exclusion (sie) is generally known as a mechanism by which a prophage residing in a host cell prevents infection of the lysogenic host cell by other phage through blocking DNA injection (Donnelly-Wu et al., 1993).