Bacteriophages as Biotechnological Tools

Abstract

Bacteriophages are ubiquitous organisms that can be specific to one or multiple strains of hosts, in addition to being the most abundant entities on the planet. It is estimated that they exceed ten times the total number of bacteria. They are classified as temperate, which means that phages can integrate their genome into the host genome, originating a prophage that replicates with the host cell and may confer immunity against infection by the same type of phage; and lytics, those with greater biotechnological interest and are viruses that lyse the host cell at the end of its reproductive cycle. When lysogenic, they are capable of disseminating bacterial antibiotic resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer. When professionally lytic—that is, obligately lytic and not recently descended from a temperate ancestor—they become allies in bacterial control in ecological imbalance scenarios; these viruses have a biofilm-reducing capacity. Phage therapy has also been advocated by the scientific community, given the uniqueness of issues related to the control of microorganisms and biofilm production when compared to other commonly used techniques. The advantages of using bacteriophages appear as a viable and promising alternative. This review will provide updates on the landscape of phage applications for the biocontrol of pathogens in industrial settings and healthcare.

Temporal epigenome modulation enables efficient bacteriophage engineering and functional analysis of phage DNA modifications

“…Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect prokaryotic hosts. The high potential of the application of lytic phages in both medical and industrial settings has boosted phage research in recent years 1–4 . However, a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie efficient phage infections, which is essential for their targeted utilization, remains significantly underexplored.…”

Complete genome sequences and characteristics of mycobacteriophages Diminimus, Dulcita, Glaske16, and Koreni

“…These viruses play crucial roles in the global ecosystem and impact not only bacterial physiology, diversity, abundance, and virulence but also human, animal, and plant health ( 3 , 4 ). On the practical side, bacteriophages have multiple applications, including disease diagnosis, phage therapy, food safety, disinfection, correcting dysbiosis, pest control, biosensing, and bioremediation ( 4 – 9 ). Here, we report on four novel lysogenic bacteriophages.…”

Archaeal virus entry and egress

“…The structural organization of each virus particle has evolved to suit its purpose of genome protection, transport, host recognition and genome delivery (Poranen et al 2002 , Elois et al 2023 ). The striking structural diversity of archaeal viruses indicates that their host recognition and entry mechanisms might be very diverse as well (Quemin and Quax 2015 ).…”