Authors: Yiling Gan Tingting Wu Ping Liu Shuliang Guo
Publish Date: 2014/02/07
Volume: 196, Issue: 3, Pages: 209-218
Abstract
Mycobacteriophage therapy is a potential alternative treatment for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection Here we further characterized a mycobacteriophage Bo4 and evaluated its ability to infect and kill M tuberculosis We first found that Bo4 can infect M tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis The observed clear plaques created by Bo4 infection indicated that Bo4 might be a lytic phage able to lyse mycobacterial strains which was confirmed by phage antimicrobial activity Bo4 formed clear zones in a medium with pH values of 74 or 50 suggesting the possibility that Bo4 could lyse mycobacteria such as M tuberculosis in blood as well as in lysosomal macrophages Further investigation into the Bo4 genome revealed that Bo4 had a dsDNA genome Moreover Bo4 contained ~39318 bp comprised of 6676 G+C content Complete genome sequencing showed high nucleotide identity with cluster G mycobacteriophages thus classifying Bo4 as a member of the cluster G family Additionally annotation of the Bo4 genome indicated that it was a lytic bacteriophage and did not contain any harmful genes that increased mycobacterial virulence or decreased human immunity Overall the results of investigation indicate that the Bo4 possesses the potential to destroy M tuberculosis making it a potentially useful tool for diagnosing and treating tuberculosis
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