Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Alita R. Burmeister, Eddy Tzintzun-Tapia, Carli Roush, Ivan Mangal, Roxanna Barahman, Robert D. Bjornson, Paul E. Turner
Summary: Bacteriophages have potential for treating antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections by evolving to better infect bacterial cells. The phage U136B can induce bacteria to lose or modify the TolC protein, reducing antibiotic resistance. This study found that U136B can evolve to higher adsorption rates, improving its infection ability. Understanding phage evolution is crucial for developing effective phage therapies.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Quan-Guo Zhang, Xiao-Lin Chu, Angus Buckling
Summary: The study demonstrated the potential of laboratory selection programs to produce phage genotypes with both high growth rate and broad infectivity, which could be therapeutically beneficial. Strategies such as rotation between evolution and coevolution phases were found to be effective in overcoming the trade-off between growth rate and infectivity range in evolved phage isolates, leading to the development of phages capable of slowing or preventing resistance evolution in susceptible bacterial populations.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Kaitlyn E. Kortright, Simon Doss-Gollin, Benjamin K. Chan, Paul E. Turner
Summary: This study found that selection for Escherichia coli to resist phage T6, phage U115, or albicidin often results in cross-resistance evolution, but these mutants did not exhibit measurable growth deficiencies. This suggests that when considering new antibacterial therapies, thorough investigation into the evolutionary consequences of the treatment should be conducted to avoid potential evolved trade-ups.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Virology
Sandra-Maria Wienhold, Markus C. Brack, Geraldine Nouailles, Gopinath Krishnamoorthy, Imke H. E. Korf, Claudius Seitz, Sarah Wienecke, Kristina Dietert, Corinne Gurtner, Olivia Kershaw, Achim D. Gruber, Anton Ross, Holger Ziehr, Manfred Rohde, Jens Neudecker, Jasmin Lienau, Norbert Suttorp, Stefan Hippenstiel, Andreas C. Hocke, Christine Rohde, Martin Witzenrath
Summary: In this study, a purified lytic phage, vB_AbaM_Acibel004, was found to be effective against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections in both immunocompetent mice and a human lung tissue model. Phage-treated mice showed faster recovery, lower bacterial burden, lung permeability, and cytokine release. Histopathological examination revealed reduced inflammation. No adverse events were observed. The bactericidal effect of the purified phage on A. baumannii was also confirmed in an ex vivo human lung infection model. These findings suggest the potential of the investigated phage for treating multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections and support further development of preclinical evaluation methods for phage efficacy.
Article
Immunology
Meaghan Castledine, Pawel Sierocinski, Mhairi Inglis, Suzanne Kay, Alex Hayward, Angus Buckling, Daniel Padfield
Summary: Antagonistic coevolution between hosts and parasites has important implications in ecology and evolution. This study found that increasing the genetic diversity of parasites may give them an evolutionary advantage in long-term coevolution.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Matthew C. Bond, Lucia Vidakovic, Praveen K. Singh, Knut Drescher, Carey D. Nadell
Summary: Bacteriophages can be trapped in the biofilm matrix, remaining viable and able to kill susceptible cells, even if colonizing cells are present prior to phage exposure. Colonizing cells gain phage protection by being enveloped in curli-producing clusters of resident biofilm cells if they are present on the biofilm long enough before phage exposure.
Article
Microbiology
Celia Souque, Jose A. Escudero, R. Craig MacLean
Summary: Integrons can accelerate the evolution of antibiotic resistance by reshuffling resistance cassettes, but the flexibility of integrons also leads to potential off-target effects on the genome, which can have important evolutionary consequences.
Article
Microbiology
Tilde Andersson, Geofrey Makenga, Filbert Francis, Daniel T. R. Minja, Soren Overballe-Petersen, Man-Hung Eric Tang, Kurt Fuursted, Vito Baraka, Rolf Lood
Summary: The spread of antibiotic resistance is a significant challenge, with faulty usage of antibiotics and horizontal gene transfer through bacteriophages playing important roles. In a study of Tanzanian patients with bacterial infections, significant differences were found in oral microbial diversity between infected and non-infected individuals, as well as before and after oral antibiotic treatment. The resistome carried by both bacteria and bacteriophages also varied significantly.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Mikael Skurnik
Summary: Due to the increasing antibiotic resistance, it is necessary to address the issue promptly. Phage therapy, as a precision therapy for bacterial infections, has gained attention, but there are still unresolved issues such as clear instructions, practical experience, and seamless coordination.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
An N. T. Nguyen, Laura C. Woods, Rebecca Gorrell, Shamitraa Ramanan, Terry Kwok, Michael J. McDonald
Summary: Horizontal gene transfer is vital for microbial evolution, yet we have limited knowledge about the fitness effects and dynamics of these transferred genetic variants. Through evolutionary experiments on laboratory populations of Helicobacter pylori, which naturally take up DNA from their environment, we measured the fitness effects of thousands of transferred genetic variants. Our findings reveal that natural transformation increases the rate of adaptation but comes with a significant genetic load. However, recombination bypasses this cost by enhancing selection efficiency through separating harmful and beneficial genetic variants. Our results demonstrate that adaptation with horizontal gene transfer, which is pervasive in natural microbial populations, is influenced by a combination of selection, recombination, and genetic drift that existing evolutionary models fail to account for.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Virology
Bahareh Lashtoo Aghaee, Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei, Mohammad Yousef Alikhani, Ali Mojtahedi, Corinne F. Maurice
Summary: Antibiotic resistance is a significant global threat, and using a combination of phages and antibiotics may be an effective strategy for treating multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.
Article
Ecology
Zhenhe Xu, Zihan Ding, Lijia Shi, Yuzhen Xie, Yuanxing Zhang, Zhuang Wang, Qin Liu
Summary: The coevolution of bacteria and phages is crucial for understanding bacterial community diversity in marine ecosystems. This study investigated the differences in phage resistance patterns and the accumulation of advantageous mutations during coevolution. The results identified different modes of phage resistance in marine Aeromonas and revealed the dynamics and evolutionary trade-offs of phage resistance in the bacterial community. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between marine microbes.
Article
Microbiology
Ashlan Kunz J. Coyne, Kyle Stamper, Amer El Ghali, Razieh Kebriaei, Biswajit Biswas, Melanie Wilson, Michael V. Deschenes, Truc T. Tran, Cesar A. Arias, Michael J. Rybak
Summary: Our study supports the additional benefit of standard-of-care antibiotics combined with a phage cocktail compared to antibiotic alone against a daptomycin-nonsusceptible (DNS) E. faecium isolate in a high-inoculum simulated endocardial vegetation ex vivo PK/PD model.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Olusola Jeje, Akamu J. Ewunkem, Liesl K. Jeffers-Francis, Joseph L. Graves Jr
Summary: This study examines the influence of resistance to excess iron (III) on the evolution of bacteriophage resistance in Escherichia coli bacteria. The research finds that populations with resistance to both excess iron (III) and bacteriophage show better growth performance under certain stress conditions and are more likely to develop resistance to multiple antibiotics. This underscores the importance of considering the potential risks of combination antimicrobial treatments.
Article
Virology
Nathaniel C. Esteves, Steffen Porwollik, Michael McClelland, Birgit E. Scharf
Summary: The study identified the impact of different gene deletion regions on the infectivity of flagellotropic phage chi, showing that multi-gene deletions affecting the efflux system reduced infection, deletion of the tig gene reduced infection, and deletion of genes involved in antioxidant synthesis reduced infectivity.
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Joshua B. Richardson, Benjamin Evans, Patient P. Pyana, Nick Van Reet, Mark Sistrom, Philippe Buscher, Serap Aksoy, Adalgisa Caccone
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2016)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Norah P. Saarman, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Eric C. Anderson, Benjamin R. Evans, Evlyn Pless, Luciano V. Cosme, Cassandra Gonzalez-Acosta, Basile Kamgang, Dawn M. Wesson, Jeffrey R. Powell
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2017)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Panayiota Kotsakiozi, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Adalgisa Caccone, Benjamin Evans, Renata Schama, Ademir Jesus Martins, Jeffrey R. Powell
PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES
(2017)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Evlyn Pless, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Benjamin R. Evans, Vicki Kramer, Bethany G. Bolling, Walter J. Tabachnick, Jeffrey R. Powell
PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES
(2017)
Article
Ecology
Panayiota Kotsakiozi, Benjamin R. Evans, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Basile Kamgang, Martin Mayanja, Julius Lutwama, Gilbert Le Goff, Diego Ayala, Christophe Paupy, Athanase Badolo, Joao Pinto, Carla A. Sousa, Arlete D. Troco, Jeffrey R. Powell
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2018)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Ambrose R. Orr, Josephine E. Quagraine, Peter Suwondo, Santosh George, Lisa M. Harrison, Fabio Pio Dornas, Benjamin Evans, Adalgisa Caccone, Debbie Humphries, Michael D. Wilson, Michael Cappello
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
(2019)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Benjamin J. Matthews, Olga Dudchenko, Sarah B. Kingan, Sergey Koren, Igor Antoshechkin, Jacob E. Crawford, William J. Glassford, Margaret Herre, Seth N. Redmond, Noah H. Rose, Gareth D. Weedall, Yang Wu, Sanjit S. Batra, Carlos A. Brito-Sierra, Steven D. Buckingham, Corey L. Campbell, Saki Chan, Eric Cox, Benjamin R. Evans, Thanyalak Fansiri, Igor Filipovic, Albin Fontaine, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Richard Hall, Vinita S. Joardar, Andrew K. Jones, Raissa G. G. Kay, Vamsi K. Kodali, Joyce Lee, Gareth J. Lycett, Sara N. Mitchell, Jill Muehling, Michael R. Murphy, Arina D. Omer, Frederick A. Partridge, Paul Peluso, Aviva Presser Aiden, Vidya Ramasamy, Gordana Rasic, Sourav Roy, Karla Saavedra-Rodriguez, Shruti Sharan, Atashi Sharma, Melissa Laird Smith, Joe Turner, Allison M. Weakley, Zhilei Zhao, Omar S. Akbari, William C. Black, Han Cao, Alistair C. Darby, Catherine A. Hill, J. Spencer Johnston, Terence D. Murphy, Alexander S. Raikhel, David B. Sattelle, Igor V. Sharakhov, Bradley J. White, Li Zhao, Erez Lieberman Aiden, Richard S. Mann, Louis Lambrechts, Jeffrey R. Powell, Maria V. Sharakhova, Zhijian Tu, Hugh M. Robertson, Carolyn S. McBride, Alex R. Hastic, Jonas Korlach, Daniel E. Neafsey, Adam M. Phillippy, Leslie B. Vosshall
Article
Ecology
Victor Quesada, Sandra Freitas-Rodriguez, Joshua Miller, Jose G. Perez-Silva, Zi-Feng Jiang, Washington Tapia, Olaya Santiago-Fernandez, Diana Campos-Iglesias, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Maud Quinzin, Miguel G. Alvarez, Dido Carrero, Luciano B. Beheregaray, James P. Gibbs, Ylenia Chiari, Scott Glaberman, Claudio Ciofi, Miguel Araujo-Voces, Pablo Mayoral, Javier R. Arango, Isaac Tamargo-Gomez, David Roiz-Valle, Maria Pascual-Torner, Benjamin R. Evans, Danielle L. Edwards, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, Nikos Poulakakis, Stephen J. Gaughran, Danny O. Rueda, Gabriel Bretones, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Kevin P. White, Adalgisa Caccone, Carlos Lopez-Otin
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2019)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Benjamin R. Evans, Panayiota Kotsakiozi, Andre Luis Costa-da-Silva, Rafaella Sayuri Ioshino, Luiza Garziera, Michele C. Pedrosa, Aldo Malavasi, Jair F. Virginio, Margareth L. Capurro, Jeffrey R. Powell
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2019)
Review
Pediatrics
Benjamin K. Chan, Gail Stanley, Mrinalini Modak, Jon L. Koff, Paul E. Turner
Summary: Phage therapy is gaining renewed interest as a potential strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, particularly in cystic fibrosis patients, but further research is needed to assess its clinical benefits and efficacy.
PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuanning Li, Xing-Xing Shen, Benjamin Evans, Casey W. Dunn, Antonis Rokas
Summary: This study examines the debate over whether sponges or comb jellies are the most distant animal relatives, with a focus on the extensive differences in analyses that have led to inconsistent results. By synthesizing previous studies and conducting new analyses under standardized conditions, it is found that the recovery of comb jellies as the most distant relatives is consistent across various conditions, while sponges are recovered under specific conditions with the use of site-heterogeneous CAT models. The study also highlights the skepticism that should be applied to sponge-sister results due to the narrow conditions in which they are recovered and the lack of significant fit compared to other models recovering comb jelly-sister.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Meeting Abstract
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Laura Dickson, Albin Fontaine, Sarah Merkling, Benjamin Evans, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Mo Li, Xiaoqing Yu, Kuang-Yao Lee, Lauren Carrington, Cameron Simmons, Hongyu Zhao, Jeffrey Powell, Louis Lambrechts
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
(2018)