T5 Group Bacteriophages as Potential Phage Therapy Agents

The T5 group bacteriophages, which infect a number of enterobacterial species and strains, are useful objects for obtaining therapeutic phage preparations with broad specificity. The present work considers the biological properties of T5-related phages responsible for their ability to infect a broad spectrum of bacterial strains in spite of a limited number of known phage receptor proteins. Ability of bacteriophages to recognize bacterial O-antigens specifically enhances their capacity for infection and increases the therapeutic potential of the T5 phages.