๐Ÿ”ฌ Restrictive Host

Bacterium that either does not support phage plaque formation or, more generally, successful phage infection.

by Stephen T. Abedon Ph.D. (abedon.1@osu.edu)

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About this entry: Restrictive Host is one of a growing set of phage biology and phage therapy terms defined here. For more phage terms, see Abedon, S.T. (2025). Phage Therapy Annotated Glossary. Preprints.org. 10.20944/preprints202508.0347.v1

phage.org/terms/restrictive_host.html  ·  Abedon’s Books  ·  DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20173633

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Restrictive Host: Bacterium that either does not support phage plaque formation or, more generally, successful phage infection.

Discussion

<p>The "restriction" of restriction-modification, that is, is class="bap-term">derived from the idea of a restrictive host rather than the idea of restrictive host following the discovery of restriction-modification systems. Indeed, restriction enzymes are named not because they "restrict" DNA but instead because they underlie one, prominent mechanism by which host can restrict phage wikipedia.org/wiki/Propagation" target="_blank" class="bap-term">propagation.

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How to cite this page

Abedon, S.T. (2026). Phage Terms. https://terms.phage.org  ·  10.5281/zenodo.20173633

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Restrictive Host — terms.phage.org — phage.org — Stephen T. Abedon — Version 2026.05.14