Harald Brussow

..Virulent lactococcal phages with prolate heads (c2-like genus of Siphoviridae), in contrast, have no known counterparts in other bacterial genera...

..The putative tail sheath protein showed a shear-induced change in electrophoretic migration behavior. The genome organization of the structural module in LP65 resembled that of Siphoviridae from the lambda supergroup...

..These proposals have a long history, but are currently going through a kind of renaissance as documented by a spate of recent reviews. This review discusses the potential of phage therapy with a specific example, namely Escherichia coli...

..In view of the growing antibiotic resistance crisis, a coordinated effort by the public health sector is needed to evaluate the potential of phage therapy as an adjunct to antibiotics...

..The epidemic O104:H4 strains were resistant to all penicillins and cephalosporins but susceptible to carbapenems, which were recommended for treatment...

..Here we report an evaluation of the therapeutic potential of different probiotics and their combination with anti - rotavirus antibodies in a mouse model of rotavirus diarrhea...

..We suggest that tailed phages are the result of both vertical and horizontal evolution and are thus a good model system for web-like phylogenies...

..In addition, they can serve as anchoring points for genome inversions. The current review presents the available genomics and biological data on prophages from bacterial pathogens in an evolutionary framework...

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..The two L. johnsonii strains had identical in vitro growth and in vivo gut persistence phenotypes. Also, in an isogenic background, the presence of the prophage resulted in no growth disadvantage...

..The difference between T7 and T4 with respect to gut replication might partly reflect their distinct in vitro capacity to replicate on slowly growing cells...

..The study of such simple interacting bacterial systems might help to derive some basic rules governing microbial ecology within the mammalian gut...

..coli strains representing the five main pathotypes isolated from diarrhea patients...

..The experiments revealed that deletion of LJ1654 to LJ1656 and LJ1680 decreased the gut residence time, while a mutant with a deleted exopolysaccharide biosynthesis cluster had a slightly increased residence time...

..In this system the currently sequenced lactococcal phages would be grouped into five genera: c2-, sk1, Sfi11-, r1t-, and Sfi21-like phages...

..The effect of selection pressure on the host bacterium is apparently an important force shaping the prophage genomes in low-G+C gram-positive bacteria and gamma-proteobacteria...

..Our data revealed not only major differences between in vitro- and in vivo-expressed genes in a Lactobacillus gut commensal organism but also marked changes in the expression of genes along the digestive tract...

..These genes belong to the few prophage genes transcribed in the lysogen. Prophages from dairy bacteria might therefore also contribute to the evolutionary fitness of non-pathogenic LAB...

..No evidence for DNA exchange between JS98 phage and the E. coli host genome or coliphages other than T4 was observed. No undesired genes which could compromise its medical use were detected in the JS98 genome sequence...

..Modern whole-genome-based techniques are thus a useful adjunct to the clarification of taxonomical relationships in problematic bacterial groups...

..Addition of trehalose or milk formula stabilized the phage preparation, which then showed excellent storage stability even at elevated temperature...