Two large studies altered the understanding of bacteriophage diversity and persistence: a broad genomic analysis uncovered thousands of previously unknown lytic phages embedded in bacterial genomes, and a complementary investigation found evidence that virulent phages can persist across bacterial isolates, challenging long‑held assumptions about phage lifestyle dynamics. The large‑scale genome mining project, led by Perfilyev and colleagues, cataloged extensive lytic phage diversity that expands the viral genetic repository for therapeutic and microbiome engineering applications. A separate team documented persistent virulent phages across clinical and environmental isolates, suggesting stable host–phage relationships outside classical lysogeny. Together, these findings have implications for phage therapy development, horizontal gene transfer assessments, and antimicrobial‑resistance modeling. Researchers highlighted the need to reassess phage selection criteria for therapeutic cocktails, given new persistence behaviors and genomic diversity. The work opens opportunities to mine novel lytic phages for antibiotic‑resistant infections, while also raising biosafety and regulatory questions about predictable phage–host dynamics in clinical use.