Bacteriophages Concept and Applications: A Review on Phage Therapy

Abstract

The nature of phages was a matter of dispute, which was resolved in 1940, and it was continued to develop their activity and application in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Bacteriophages were first employed in 1919 to treat bacterial illnesses caused by Citrobacter, Enterobacter, and Pseudomonas. Bacteriophages range in complexity from simple spherical viruses with genome sizes of less than 5 kbp to complicated viruses with genome sizes surpassing 280 kbp. They have two significant parts, head and tail, and are made up of numerous copies of more than 40 distinct proteins. Bacteriophages have been demonstrated to bind with receptors in the walls of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, ranging from peptide sequences to polysaccharide moieties. Depending on the type of phage and the physiological state of the bacterium, the life cycle may diverge into the lytic cycle or lysogenic cycle. Lytic-lysogenic switch depends on a variety of inducing factors. Bacteriophage therapy can be administered via several routes, but parenteral routes are the most effective. Auto-dosing, single-dose potential, lack of cross-resistance with antibiotics, etc., are several advantages of phage therapy over antibiotic treatment. Bacteriophages are attracting much attention because of their potential advantages and wide applications as antibacterial agents, diagnostic technologies, phage-based products, and biocontrol agents. They also have several applications in the food industry, agriculture/crop, farm animal and bee protection, environmental, and biosensor development.

An Edible Antibacterial Coating Integrating Lytic Bacteriophage Particles for the Potential Biocontrol of Salmonella enterica in Ripened Cheese

“…D’ Herelle named this virus a bacteriophage (or phage) and was congratulated as the “father” of modern virology [ 10 ]. Bacteriophages are viruses that solely and exclusively infect susceptible bacterial cells and have no metabolic machinery of their own, hence being intracellular parasites requiring a bacterial host cell to replicate [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Many applications of bacteriophages in the control of foodborne pathogens have been proposed over the years, with relative success [ 14 ].…”

“…Many applications of bacteriophages in the control of foodborne pathogens have been proposed over the years, with relative success [ 14 ]. Bacterial biocontrol using bacteriophages has the unique advantage that phage particles are natural antibacterial agents, self-multiplying and highly specific [ 16 ]. Another interesting property is the remarkable stability of bacteriophages in foodstuff [ 11 ].…”

“…Another interesting property is the remarkable stability of bacteriophages in foodstuff [ 11 ]. Furthermore, according to Sillankorva et al [ 19 ] and Sahu et al [ 16 ], bacteriophages have several other advantages as biocontrol agents in foodstuff, including (but not limited to): (i) specificity to reaching their bacterial host cells while keeping the local microbiota unaffected; (ii) self-replication and self-limitation, such as in multiplying while the target host cells are still present and viable; (iii) adaptation to the defense mechanisms of the bacterial cells; (iv) a very low inherent toxicity, since they are formed basically of nucleic acids and proteins; (v) a very low cost of isolation and simplicity of handling; and (vi) tolerance to various food conditions. In this way, researchers have therefore attempted to employ these bacterial viruses to combat a variety of bacterial illnesses in humans and animals [ 5 , 16 ].…”

Mucin and Agitation Shape Predation of Escherichia coli by Lytic Coliphage

“…Infection of bacteria by phages can take many forms, including aggressive action (bacterial lysis) or integration of the phage genome into the bacterial DNA (prophage domestication) [ 2 ]. Use of phages as treatment for bacterial infections, phage therapy, has long been studied, but there is renewed interest due to increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance and a wide range of potential uses for bacteriophages [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Closing loops in intensive livestock systems: innovative strategies for nutrient recycling and emissions reduction

“…In this thesis, the effect of ruminal bacteriophages on HAP bacteria was not proved. However, bacteriophages interactions are widely known (Duan et al, 2022;Sahu et al, 2022), and bacteriophages affecting Clostridium sporogenes have been described in the literature and they are available in bank collections . The use of more complex systems to evaluate rumen fermentation as RUSITEC could be used to study dynamics on the bacterial community (Wetzels et al, 2018) and consequently the effects of anti-biotics, enzymes, or even bacteriophages on them.…”