Article
Microbiology
Miaomiao Wu, Yanpeng Zhu, Yuhui Yang, Yali Gong, Zongyue Chen, Binyou Liao, Yu Xiong, Xia Zhou, Yan Li
Summary: This study aimed to isolate and characterize novel oral phages using culture-omics method. A total of 75 bacterial strains were successfully isolated, revealing 14 potential new bacterial species. Additionally, a temperate phage targeting a specific oral commensal bacterium was isolated, indicating a potential role of oral phages in regulating oral microbiome and diseases.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Hanaa Shaalan, Eti Cattan-Tsaushu, Ke Li, Sarit Avrani
Summary: In the 1960s, the first cyanophage, LPP-1, was isolated, leading to the study of various cyanophages and their interactions with cyanobacterial hosts to control blooms. Sequencing the genomes of LPP-1 and its relative, LPP-2, revealed that they belong to a group of short-tailed cyanophages distantly related to T7-like cyanophages. These phages have the ability to switch between lytic and lysogenic infection, which may explain the persistence of cyanobacterial blooms despite their phages.
Review
Virology
Menghui Zhang, Tianyou Zhang, Meishun Yu, Yu-Lei Chen, Min Jin
Summary: This review systematically summarizes the effects of various factors affecting temperate phage life cycle decisions and their ecological implications.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Melaina L. Jacoby, Graham D. Hogg, Madeleine R. Assaad, Kurt E. Williamson
Summary: This study provides the first evidence of a seasonal trend in lysogeny in a forest soil, supporting previous hypotheses about the factors governing lysogeny.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Sam Ford, Sara Moeskjaer, Peter Young, Rosa I. Santamaria, Ellie Harrison
Summary: Temperate phages in rhizobia, including a novel group identified in this study, have the potential to impact the ecological dynamics of bacterial communities. Genome comparisons among these phages revealed a high degree of gene conservation with a region of hypervariability containing hypothetical genes. These phages exhibit a history of active mobilization within and between Rhizobium species, as indicated by phylogenetic discordance between prophage and host phylogenies.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lynn C. Thomason, Carl J. Schiltz, Carolyn Court, Christopher J. Hosford, Myfanwy C. Adams, Joshua S. Chappie, Donald L. Court
Summary: The CI and Cro repressors of bacteriophage lambda create a bistable switch between lysogenic and lytic growth by regulating the expression of different promoters. RexA and RexB proteins assist the transition from lysogenic to lytic growth, with RexA stabilizing the lytic state. RexB modulates the effect of RexA and may also help establish phage DNA replication as lytic growth ensues.
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Wenyi Peng, Fei Zeng, Zhiying Wu, Zeyuan Jin, Wanxia Li, Mingzhuo Zhu, Qiuping Wang, Yigang Tong, Lili Chen, Qinqin Bai
Summary: This study identified a temperate phage, 5W, that infects multidrug-resistant Acineto-bacter baumannii. 5W has rapid adsorption, short latency period, and moderate burst size. Its genome does not contain any known virulence and antibiotic resistance genes.
ARCHIVES OF MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Paul C. Kirchberger, Zachary A. Martinez, Landry J. Luker, Howard Ochman
Summary: Single-stranded DNA phages of the family Microviridae have independently evolved multiple divergent lineages capable of lysogenizing hosts and developing hypervariable regions in their DNA pilot protein. These hypervariable regions confer the ability of temperate Microviridae to prevent DNA injection and infection by other microviruses, highlighting competition between viruses as a significant selective pressure.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Review
Infectious Diseases
Addisu D. Teklemariam, Rashad R. Al-Hindi, Ishtiaq Qadri, Mona G. Alharbi, Wafaa S. Ramadan, Jumaa Ayubu, Ahmed M. Al-Hejin, Raghad F. Hakim, Fanar F. Hakim, Rahad F. Hakim, Loojen I. Alseraihi, Turki Alamri, Steve Harakeh
Summary: Bacteria and their predator bacteriophages engage in an ongoing arms race, employing various defense strategies. The bacterial immune arsenal towards phages is diverse and utilizes different components of the host machinery. These defense mechanisms include restriction-modification, mutations, receptor blocking, competitive inhibitors, extracellular matrix, assembly interference, abortive infection, toxin-antitoxin systems, bacterial retrons, and replication interference. Phages, in turn, develop defense mechanisms with small fitness cost to counteract these bacterial strategies. This review highlights the major bacterial defense systems and phage counterstrategies, suggesting potential research directions.
Article
Microbiology
Mirjam Zund, Hans-Joachim Ruscheweyh, Christopher M. Field, Natalie Meyer, Miguelangel Cuenca, Daniel Hoces, Wolf-Dietrich Hardt, Shinichi Sunagawa
Summary: This study demonstrates the powerful approach of integrating experimental induction and bioinformatic analysis to accurately locate inducible prophages using high-throughput sequencing data and quantify their activity. The ability to generate such quantitative information will provide better insights into the factors determining phage activity and how prophage-bacteria interactions impact the microbiome and human health.
Article
Virology
Ana Georgina Cobian Guemes, Tram Le, Maria Isabel Rojas, Nicole E. Jacobson, Helena Villela, Katelyn Mcnair, Shr-Hau Hung, Lili Han, Lance Boling, Jessica Claire Octavio, Lorena Dominguez, Vito Adrian Cantu, Sinead Archdeacon, Alejandro A. Vega, Michelle A. An, Hamza Hajama, Gregory Burkeen, Robert A. Edwards, Douglas J. Conrad, Forest Rohwer, Anca M. Segall, Mao Ye
Summary: This study reports the detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria Achromobacter species in the airways of patients with Cystic Fibrosis, as well as the discovery of lytic phages with potential therapeutic value. The results of the study showed that most Achromobacter strains were susceptible to the phages isolated in the study, and the method of phage production met the safety standards for human administration. This study provides a comprehensive framework for the treatment of Achromobacter infections in Cystic Fibrosis.
Review
Microbiology
Michael Feiss, Ryland Young, Jolene Ramsey, Sankar Adhya, Costa Georgopoulos, Roger W. Hendrix, Graham F. Hatfull, Eddie B. Gilcrease, Sherwood R. Casjens
Summary: Laboratory-generated hybrids of phage lambda and related phages have played a crucial role in the development of molecular biology, particularly in understanding gene structure and control. The complete genome sequences of phages 21 and 434, which are important lambda hybrids, were determined to gain a comprehensive understanding of their biology. These genome sequences revealed unexpected bacterial virulence gene types and corrected errors in previously published sequences. The study also highlighted the historical significance of these hybrid phages in the development of molecular biology and gene cloning vectors.
MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jens Andre Hammerl, Sabrin El-Mustapha, Michelle Boelcke, Hannah Trampert, Andrea Barac, Claudia Jaeckel, Ashish K. Gadicherla, Stefan Hertwig
Summary: The study identified three groups of temperate phages in pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains, each with different lytic activity against different strains.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Virology
Steven G. Sutcliffe, Michael Shamash, Alexander P. Hynes, Corinne F. Maurice
Summary: The study revealed that common medications at gut-predicted concentrations can induce phages in human gut bacteria, potentially altering the human gut microbiome. Unlike antibiotics, host-targeted medications led to species-specific induction effects.
Article
Microbiology
Karen Fong, Yu Tong Lu, Thomas Brenner, Justin Falardeau, Siyun Wang
Summary: Prophages play an important role in the evolution of Salmonella and Verotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) and have a high level of diversity. Bacteria have developed CRISPR immunity to defend against phages. Analysis of 118 strains of Salmonella and VTEC revealed diverse prophage sequences and the presence of antibiotic resistance genes. The relationship between spacer abundance and prophage abundance remains unclear.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mykhailo Savin, Gabriele Bierbaum, Ricarda Maria Schmithausen, Celine Heinemann, Judith Kreyenschmidt, Silvia Schmoger, Inna Akbaba, Annemarie Kaesbohrer, Jens Andre Hammerl
Summary: Klebsiella strains isolated from poultry and pig slaughterhouses' wastewater exhibit high resistance, with poultry slaughterhouses showing the highest colistin resistance rate and carbapenem-resistant strains only detected in wastewater treatment plant samples. The diversity of resistance genes was highest in Klebsiella spp. from wastewater treatment plants, with no carbapenemase-encoding genes detected.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Jens Andre Hammerl, Andrea Barac, Anja Bienert, Aslihan Demir, Niklas Drueke, Claudia Jaeckel, Nina Matthies, Jin Woo Jun, Mikael Skurnik, Juliane Ulrich, Stefan Hertwig
Summary: This study found that Yersinia pseudotuberculosis phages with a broad host range can be easily isolated from zoo animals, especially birds.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Microbiology
Jens Andre Hammerl
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Silvia Wuerstle, Jana Stender, Jens Andre Hammerl, Kilian Vogele, Kathrin Rothe, Christian Willy, Joachim Jakob Bugert
Summary: This study aims to establish an efficient personalized phage delivery pipeline and provide guidelines and evaluation tools. By adjusting the components and set points of the pipeline, the efficiency of the process was successfully improved. This is of great importance for treating critically ill patients with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections.
Article
Biology
Tobias Lienen, Arne Schnitt, Jens Andre Hammerl, Sven Maurischat, Bernd-Alois Tenhagen
Summary: This study investigated the antimicrobial resistance potential of mammaliicocci isolates from German dairy farms. The findings showed that these isolates carry multiple antimicrobial resistance genes and exhibit resistance to various antibiotics. These mammaliicocci may play a significant role in the transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Katharina Juraschek, Janina Malekzadah, Burkhard Malorny, Annemarie Kaesbohrer, Stefan Schwarz, Diana Meemken, Jens Andre Hammerl
Summary: This study investigated the occurrence and genetic basis of the fluoroquinolone resistance enhancing determinant qnrB in ESBL-/non-ESBL-producing E. coli. The qnrB-carrying E. coli were found to be highly heterogenic in their multilocus sequence types (STs) and their phenotypic resistance profiles.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Agnes Perrin-Guyomard, Sophie A. Granier, Jannice Schau Slettemeas, Muna Anjum, Luke Randall, Manal AbuOun, Natalie Pauly, Alexandra Irrgang, Jens Andre Hammerl, Jette Sejer Kjeldgaard, Anette Hammerum, Alessia Franco, Magdalena Skarzynska, Ewelina Kaminska, Dariusz Wasyl, Cindy Dierikx, Stefan Borjesson, Yvon Geurts, Marisa Haenni, Kees Veldman
Summary: This study evaluated the performance of a screening protocol to detect and isolate mcr-positive Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. from animal caecal content and meat samples. The results showed that the combined method was effective in detecting and isolating E. coli or Salmonella spp. strains harboring different mcr genes, and could potentially be used as a harmonized protocol for screening mcr genes in food-producing animals and food products in Europe.
LETTERS IN APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Cansu Onlen Guneri, Kerstin Stingl, Mirjam Grobbel, Jens Andre Hammerl, Cemil Kurekci
Summary: This study investigated the occurrence of fosfomycin-resistant Enterobacterales, particularly E. coli, in city wastewater treatment plants and hospital sewage in Hatay, Turkey. The isolates were characterized for their clonal relatedness, resistomes, and mobile genetic elements, revealing the potential for the dissemination of fosfomycin resistance. Plasmid-mediated, transmissible FosR in E. coli from wastewater poses a foreseeable threat to One-Health.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Editorial Material
Microbiology
Jens A. Hammerl, Jennifer M. Ritchie, Francesca Leoni, Swapan Banerjee, Eckhard Strauch
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Virology
Christian Willy, Joachim J. Bugert, Annika Y. Classen, Li Deng, Anja Duechting, Justus Gross, Jens A. Hammerl, Imke H. E. Korf, Christian Kuehn, Simone Lieberknecht-Jouy, Christine Rohde, Markus Rupp, Maria J. G. T. Vehreschild, Kilian Vogele, Sarah Wienecke, Martin Witzenrath, Silvia Wuerstle, Holger Ziehr, Karin Moelling, Felix Broecker
Summary: Bacteriophage therapy shows promise in addressing global and German antibiotic resistance crises. The current situation in Germany regarding phage therapy and research is outlined. Critical shortcomings include a lack of clinical trials, regulation, and phages for clinical use. Phage therapy is being used on a limited number of patients as individual treatment trials.
Article
Microbiology
Dorothee Serian, Yury Churin, Jens Andre Hammerl, Manfred Rohde, Arne Jung, Anja Mueller, Min Yue, Corinna Kehrenberg
Summary: In this study, seven Bordetella avium phages were isolated and characterized, showing broad host range and strong bacteriolytic activity. These phages used lipopolysaccharides as host receptors and exhibited a myovirus structure. Although phenotypically thought to be lytic, these phages were found to undergo a lysogenic phase, but infection did not confer stable host superinfection immunity. These findings are important for potential phage therapy against avian bordetellosis.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Virology
Julia Anabell Braeuer, Jens Andre Hammerl, Sabrin El-Mustapha, Julius Fuhrmann, Andrea Barac, Stefan Hertwig
Summary: Telomere phages are a small group of temperate phages that replicate as linear plasmids and have a specific host specificity. Their unique characteristics make them important in research.
Article
Microbiology
Ulrike Binsker, Kathrin Oelgeschlaeger, Bernd Neumann, Guido Werner, Annemarie Kaesbohrer, Jens A. Hammerl
Summary: The mcr-1.26 gene, carried by E. coli isolated from poultry samples in Germany, was found to be mainly transmitted through plasmids. The genetic sequences of the plasmids in poultry and human isolates were highly similar, suggesting that poultry husbandry is the primary source of mcr-1.26.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Quantao Zhang, Thomas Alter, Eckhard Strauch, Jens Andre Hammerl, Keike Schwartz, Maria Borowiak, Carlus Deneke, Susanne Fleischmann
Summary: This study characterized the virulence potential of NOVC strains isolated from retail seafood at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. The results showed differences in the virulence potential among the analyzed strains, which may have implications for future seafood monitoring and risk assessment.
Review
Microbiology
Ulrike Binsker, Annemarie Kaesbohrer, Jens A. Hammerl
Summary: The global rise of MDR and XDR Enterobacterales in human medicine has led to the reintroduction of colistin as a last-resort drug. However, the use of colistin in veterinary medicine has resulted in a steadily increasing prevalence of resistant isolates in livestock and meat-based food. The transmission of resistant isolates from animals to humans, acquiring resistance through food, and exposure to colistin in clinical settings have contributed to the increased prevalence of colistin-resistant Enterobacterales in humans. This study focuses on the understanding of chromosomal-mediated resistance mechanisms in Enterobacterales, providing an overview of the genes involved in colistin resistance and the global situation of colistin-resistant Enterobacterales.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2022)