Phage Attacks Shown in New Light
Published:29 Mar.2023 Source:University of Pittsburgh
Graham Hatfull, the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at Pitt, has pioneered the use of these viruses -- bacteriophages, phages for short -- to treat infections in chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Although the importance of resistance may have eluded the early discovers of antibiotics, Hatfull is intent on understanding how bacteria become resistant to phages.
His lab has just discovered how a specific mutation in a bacterium results in phage resistance. The results were published Feb. 23, in the journal Nature Microbiology.
The new methodology and tools his team developed also gave them the opportunity to watch in unprecedented detail as a phage attacks a bacterium. As the use of phage therapy expands, these tools can help others better understand how different mutations protect bacteria against invasion by their phages.
For this study, the team started with Mycobacterium smegmatis, a harmless relative of the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis, leprosy and other hard-to-treat, chronic diseases. They then isolated a mutant form of the bacterium that is resistant to infection by a phage called Fionnbharth.