13Environmental monitoring of bacteria using phage-based biosensors has been widely 14 developed for many different species. However, there are only a few available methods to 15 detect specific bacteriophages in raw environmental samples. In this work, we developed a 16 simple and efficient assay to rapidly monitor the phage content of a given sample. The assay is 17 based on the bistable expression of the Salmonella enterica opvAB operon. Under regular 18 growth conditions, opvAB is only expressed by a small fraction of the bacterial subpopulation.
19In the OpvAB ON subpopulation, synthesis of the OpvA and OpvB products shortens the O-20 antigen in the lipopolysaccharide and confers resistance to phages that use LPS as a receptor.
21As a consequence, the OpvAB ON subpopulation is selected in the presence of such phages.
22Using an opvAB::gfp fusion, we could monitor LPS-binding phages in various media, including 23 raw water samples. To enlarge our phage-biosensor panoply, we also developed several 24 coliphage biosensors that proved efficient to detect LPS-as well as protein-binding coliphages.
25Moreover, the combination of these tools allows to identify what is the bacterial receptor 26 triggering phage infection. The opvAB::gfp biosensor thus comes in different flavours to 27 efficiently detect a wide range of bacteriophages and identify the type of receptor they 28 recognize. 29 30 31 from environmental samples still constitutes a challenge for those interested in isolating and 35 characterizing bacteriophages for ecological or biotechnological purposes. This work provides 36 a simple and accurate method based on the bi-stable expression of genes that confer 37 resistance to certain classes of bacteriophages in different bacterial models. It paves the way 38 for future development of highly efficient phage biosensors that can discriminate among 39 several receptor-binding phages and that could be declined in many more versions. In a 40 context where phage ecology, research, and therapy are flourishing again, it becomes essential 41 to possess simple and efficient tools for phage detection.42 43 44 45 Keywords: bacteriophage, biosensor, phase variation, LPS, phage receptor 46 47 48 49Bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria, are ubiquitous on Earth, very abundant and 50 highly diverse (1-4). They participate in the daily turnover of bacterial communities and are 51 hypothesized to be major drivers of carbon recycling (5). Their abundance and diversity have 52 long been acknowledged in the oceans and more recently associated to numerous 53 microbiomes as a major part of the viromes (2,(6)(7)(8). Bacteriophages are considered a vast 54 reservoir of genes and a major vector for horizontal gene transfer that allow the emergence of 55 new biological functions (9, 10). Furthermore, phages have been at the origin of many 56 discoveries and concepts in molecular biology (11)(12)(13).
57Among the applications resulting from a century of phage research, phage therapy stands out 58 by receiving more and more a...