Tailoring Effective Phage Cocktails for Long-Term Lysis of Escherichia coli Based on Physiological Properties of Constituent Phages

Tomoyoshi Kaneko; Toshifumi Osaka; Satoshi Tsuneda

doi:10.1089/phage.2023.0016

Tailoring Effective Phage Cocktails for Long-Term Lysis of Escherichia coli Based on Physiological Properties of Constituent Phages

Phage (New Rochelle). 2023 Sep 1;4(3):128-135. doi: 10.1089/phage.2023.0016. Epub 2023 Sep 20.

Authors

Tomoyoshi Kaneko^{1

2}, Toshifumi Osaka³, Satoshi Tsuneda^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
² Phage Therapy Institute, Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Bacteriophage (phage) therapy has regained attention as an alternative to antimicrobial agents for eliminating bacteria; however, the emergence of phage-resistant bacteria during the therapy is a major concern. One method to control this emergence is to create a cocktail composed of multiple phages.

Materials and methods: In this study, we isolated 28 phages infecting Escherichia coli and evaluated their bacteriolysis (lysis) activity, lytic spectrum, adsorption rate constant, burst size, and titer of a 1-day incubation, followed by clustering of the phages based on these physiological characteristics.

Results: The variation in lysis onset time and duration was more significant for cocktails of phages from different clusters than for phage cocktails from the same cluster.

Conclusions: This suggests that a combination of phages with different physiological characteristics is necessary to create a cocktail that rapidly and continuously lyses bacteria over a prolonged duration while suppressing the emergence of resistant bacterial strains.

Keywords: Escherichia coli; bacteriophage; cocktail; phage therapy.