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Staphylococcus bacteriophage tails with bactericidal properties: New findings
Author(s) -
Biddappa Appaiah Chemira,
Sundarrajan Sudarson,
Ramalinga Anupama Byrappa,
Sriram Bharathi,
Padmanabhan Sriram
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
biotechnology and applied biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.468
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1470-8744
pISSN - 0885-4513
DOI - 10.1002/bab.1052
Subject(s) - lytic cycle , bacteriophage , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , temperateness , prophage , phage therapy , staphylococcus aureus , lysogenic cycle , virology , bacterial virus , lysis , lysin , phage typing , genome , virus , bacteria , escherichia coli , genetics , serotype , gene
The development of lytic bacteriophages as therapeutic products is an attractive alternative to antibiotics. In this study, we evaluated the potential of phage tails for lysing G ram‐positive bacteria. Phage P 954, a well‐characterized temperate staphylococcal phage, was found to adsorb to a large number of S taphylococcus aureus clinical isolates, although it lyses only 24% of the tested isolates. However, P 954 phage tails generated by interruption of phage assembly were bactericidal against all the phage‐resistant isolates. Phage tail preparations were trypsin sensitive with an apparent molecular weight of over 300 kDa. PCR analysis of the P 954 phage‐resistant isolates indicated the integration of P 954‐like prophages into the host genomes. Our study demonstrates for the first time that P 954 bacteriophage tails have a much broader host range than the intact phage because phage tails are not affected by superinfection immunity or vulnerable to host restriction endonucleases.