Only a few decades ago, antibiotics were considered to be wonder drugs curing deadly diseases. Ironically, because they worked so well they have been used too often. Consequently, the rise of bacteria impervious to antibiotics has followed hard, resulting in untreatable multidrug resistant pathogens. A promising alternative approach is bacteriophage therapy. Phages play a key role in maintaining the natural balance in their predator-prey relationship with bacteria.
In the present study we demonstrate the simplicity of obtaining efficient phages against Enterococcus faecalis. In our previous work, we isolated an efficient phage against E. faecalis termed EFDG1 [1]. In response to EFDG1, some E. faecalis bacteria evolved to harbour natural resistance (termed as EFresEFDG1). Herein, we rapidly and easily isolated a new phage (EFLK1) from the environment, capable of successfully eliminating the resistant strain EFresEFDG1. The new phage was characterized by whole genome sequencing and visualized using scanning electron microscopy. The isolated phage showed an effective lytic activity against the resistant bacteria planktonic cultures as well as biofilms. Genome sequencing showed that EFLK1 belong to the Spounavirinae subfamily of the Myoviridae phages.
In conclusion phage therapy can serve as an alternative to antibiotics in cases of resistant bacteria, due to the simplicity of phage isolation and modification.
- Leron Khalifa, Yair Brosh, Daniel Gelman, Shunit Coppenhagen-Glazer, Shaul Beyth, Ronit Poraduso-Cohen, Yok-Ai Que, Nurit Beyth, and Ronen Hazan., Targeting Enterococcus faecalis biofilm using phage therapy, 2014. In revision.
