Evaluation of lytic activity of staphylococcal bacteriophage Sb-1 against freshly isolated clinical pathogens.

In recent decades the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains has become a serious threat to the treatment of infectious diseases. Drug resistance of Staphylococcus aureus has become a major problem in hospitals of many countries, including developed ones. Today the interest in alternative remedies to antibiotics, including bacteriophage treatment, is gaining new ground. Here, we describe the staphylococcal bacteriophage Sb-1 - a key component of therapeutic phage preparation that was successfully used against staphylococcal infections during many years in the Former Soviet Union. This phage still reveals a high spectrum of lytic activity in vitro against freshly isolated, genetically different clinical samples (including methicillin-resistant S. aureus) obtained from the local hospitals, as well as the clinics from different geographical areas. The sequence analyses of phage genome showed absence of bacterial virulence genes. A case report describes a promising clinical response after phage application in patient with cystic fibrosis and indicates the efficacy of usage of Sb-1 phage against various staphylococcal infections.

Bacteriophages as potential new therapeutics to replace or supplement antibiotics.

Over recent decades, a growing body of literature has validated the use of bacteriophages for therapy and prophylaxis in the war against drug-resistant bacteria. Today, much more is known about bacteriophages than in the 1930s when phage therapy first appeared and began to spread to many countries. With rapid dissemination of multi-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens, the interest in alternative remedies to antibiotics, including bacteriophage treatments, is gaining new ground. Based on recent experience and current results of bacteriophage applications against bacterial infections in countries where this alternative therapy is approved, many scientists and companies have come to believe that the use of phages for treating and preventing bacterial diseases will be successful.

Mobile regulatory cassettes mediate modular shuffling in T4-type phage genomes.

Coliphage phi1, which was isolated for phage therapy in the Republic of Georgia, is closely related to the T-like myovirus RB49. The approximately 275 open reading frames encoded by each phage have an average level of amino acid identity of 95.8%. RB49 lacks 7 phi1 genes while 10 phi1 genes are missing from RB49. Most of these unique genes encode functions without known homologs. Many of the insertion, deletion, and replacement events that distinguish the two phages are in the hyperplastic regions (HPRs) of their genomes. The HPRs are rich in both nonessential genes and small regulatory cassettes (promoter(early) stem-loops [PeSLs]) composed of strong sigma(70)-like promoters and stem-loop structures, which are effective transcription terminators. Modular shuffling mediated by recombination between PeSLs has caused much of the sequence divergence between RB49 and phi1. We show that exchanges between nearby PeSLs can also create small circular DNAs that are apparently encapsidated by the virus. Such PeSL "mini-circles" may be important vectors for horizontal gene transfer.