Two Novel Lytic Bacteriophages Infecting <i>Enterococcus</i> spp. Are Promising Candidates for Targeted Antibacterial Therapy
Pavel V. Tkachev,
Ivan M. Pchelin,
Daniil V. Azarov,
Andrey N. Gorshkov,
Olga V. Shamova,
Alexander V. Dmitriev,
Artemiy E. Goncharov
Affiliations
Pavel V. Tkachev
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Ivan M. Pchelin
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Daniil V. Azarov
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Andrey N. Gorshkov
Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Olga V. Shamova
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Alexander V. Dmitriev
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Artemiy E. Goncharov
Scientific and Educational Center “Molecular Bases of Interaction of Microorganisms and Human” of the WCRC “Center for Personalized Medicine”, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance is of major concern globally. Among the most worrying pathogenic bacteria are vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Phage therapy is a highly promising method for controlling enterococcal infections. In this study, we described two virulent tailed bacteriophages possessing lytic activity against Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium isolates. The SSsP-1 bacteriophage belonged to the Saphexavirus genus of the Siphoviridae family, and the GVEsP-1 bacteriophage belonged to the Schiekvirus genus of Herelleviridae. The genomes of both viruses carried putative components of anti-CRISPR systems and did not contain known genes coding for antibiotic-resistance determinants and virulence factors. The conservative arrangement of protein-coding sequences in Saphexavirus and Schiekvirus genomes taken together with positive results of treating enterococcal peritonitis in an animal infection model imply the potential suitability of GVEsP-1 and SSsP-1 bacteriophages for clinical applications.
