Newly Identified Enzyme Treats Deadly Bacterial Infections In Mice Jul 8, 2008
Now, with an uptick in antibiotic-resistant bacteria reaching alarming proportions, Rockefeller University scientists have identified an enzyme produced in viruses (called bacteriophages) that could stop these one-celled powerhouses dead in their tracks ... 1, 2007) Bacteria have two major enemies: antibiotic drugs and bacteriophage viruses, which infect and kill them ... 29, 2007) Antibiotic doses could be reduced by up to 50 times using a new approach based on bacteriophages. (Science Daily)
More Severe Bone Infections, Health Complications In Children Linked To MRSA, Researchers Find Jul 2, 2008
ScienceDaily (July 1, 2008) The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a major pathogen has led to more complications and longer hospital stays for children with acute bone infections, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report. Acute osteomyelitis, a bone infection that predominantly occurs in children, is usually caused by the staph bacteria. (Science Daily)
Antibiotic Resistance Evolution May 28, 2008
Of course, Salmonella doesn t get a runny nose and E. coli isn t sneezing when infected by viruses known as bacteriophage. Bacteriophage: Viruses Infecting Bacteria Contribute to Antibiotic Resistance ... Bacteriophage take their toll by a reduction in reproductive fitness. (Suite101.com)
The Search for a Universal Flu Vaccine: A Q&A with Walter Fiers May 21, 2008
This was our first project: the determination of the sequence of a real gene as it occurs in nature, and this was from the genome of the bacteriophage MS2 ... We looked for the smallest possible genome: a bacteriophage with RNA. We elucidated the nucleotide sequence of a gene, and this was published in 1972 ... The bacteriophage MS2 contains four genes, and we published the complete genome in 1976. (Scientific American)
Can This Man Beat the Flu with a Single Universal Vaccine? May 21, 2008
This gene codes for the coat protein of a bacteria-infecting virus, or bacteriophage. Four years later they published the bacteriophage s complete genome all four genes of it. (Scientific American)
'Alien'-type Viruses May Be Able To Treat MRSA Apr 3, 2008
"Some bacteria specific viruses -- called bacteriophages -- have been used in the past to help clear up infections caused by bacteria, but their use died out when antibiotics like penicillin and methicillin became widely available", says Janice Spencer from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland ... Immobilising the bacteriophages onto sutures -- the hospital thread used to stitch up patients during operations -- immediately kills some of the bacteria that would otherwise infect the... (Science Daily)
3D Virus Image, At Highest Resolution Ever Mar 6, 2008
The team obtained a three-dimensional map of the capsid, or protein shell, of the epsilon15 bacteriophage, a virus that infects bacteria and is a member of a family of viruses that are the most abundant life forms on Earth, Jiang said. Other methods of determining the structure could not be used for this family of virus. (Science Daily)
MIT Student Honored for Antibiotics Work Feb 28, 2008
One of Lu's projects involves engineering viruses called bacteriophage that help destroy the mechanisms bacteria use to resist antibiotics ... Lu's method involves using bacteriophage to penetrate the protective slime layer and kill the bacteria underneath. (ABC News -- Wire)
Antibiotic-resistance work gets $30,000 prize Feb 28, 2008
Lu's solution uses bacteriophages, viruses that infect only bacteria ... The bacteriophages also chew through slimy layers of bacteria called biofilms that can form on surfaces of medical devices or food-processing equipment ... Bacteriophages were discovered in the early 1900s but were later eclipsed by antibiotics. (Boston Globe)
Scientists Create First Synthetic Bacterial Genome -- Largest Chemically Defined Structure Synthesized In The Lab Jan 25, 2008
Venter, Smith and Hutchison made the first significant strides in the development of a synthetic genome by their work in assembling the 5,386 base pair bacteriophage X174 (phi X). They did so using short, single strands of synthetically produced, commercially available DNA (known as oligonucleotides) and using an adaptation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), known as polymerase cycle assembly (PCA), to build the phi X genome. (Science Daily)
DNA-protein Complex Crucial To Spread Of Antibiotic Resistance Among Bacteria Solved Dec 22, 2007
21, 2007) Researchers have solved the structure of a DNA-protein complex that is crucial in the spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria. Knowing this structure also provides fundamental insight into how cells successfully divide into two new cells with intact DNA.. (Science Daily)
Study On Toxin That Tainted Spinach, Shiga Toxin, Reveals Treatment Possibility Dec 12, 2007
Bacteria that carry a virus (a bacteriophage) that packs the Shiga toxin gene (Stx) may depend on it for protection from bacterial predators like the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena. A discovery by University at Buffalo biologists that may explain the evolution of a lethal toxin is providing new information that could lead to more effective treatments for humans who fall victim to it. (Science Daily)
Bacteria Employ Type Of DNA Modification Never Before Seen In Nature Dec 11, 2007
1, 2007) Bacteria have two major enemies: antibiotic drugs and bacteriophage viruses, which infect and kill them. The two disparate threats may have something in common. (Science Daily)
So Cal Neurogenetics Pioneer Dies Dec 1, 2007
A visit to Cold Spring Harbor Lab in 1948, followed by a two-year stint as a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, introduced Benzer to the field of bacteriophage genetics, the study of viruses that infect bacteria. At Purdue, Benzer pioneered a technique of recombination in mutant bacteriophages, providing the first evidence that a single gene can be divided ... His work with bacteriophages led him to experiments with Drosophila melanogaster. (NBC4.tv, CA)
How Drug-resistant Staph Bacteria Undermine Body's Defenses Nov 13, 2007
22, 2007) Researchers have identified a bacteriophage active against Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains, in mice and possibly humans. S. aureus is a highly flexible and potentially. (Science Daily)
Developing Kryptonite For Superbug Nov 12, 2007
11, 2007) University of Idaho researchers are crossing academic and geographical bounds to develop more effective defenses against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria and other deadly pathogens. One of the goals of that effort is to create much faster and more accurate identification of strains resistant to the antibiotic methicillin, formally known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.. (Science Daily)
Bugs from River Cam may be the key to antibiotic resistance Sep 22, 2007
Dr David Pickard and colleagues at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute isolated the viruses, known as bacteriophages, from the river water ... A bacteriophage attaches itself to the outside of the bacterial cell, penetrates it and uses the cell to produce lots more bacteriophage particles which then burst out of the cell killing the bacteria ... The researchers isolated a type of bacteriophage which kills a bacterium that infects the stomach of mice - similar to the E coli bacteria that causes... (BBC News -- UK)
New viruses to treat bacterial diseases -- 'My enemies' enemy is my friend' Sep 3, 2007
Phage based treatment has been largely ignored until recently in Western Europe and the USA. The main human clinical reports have come from Eastern Europe, particularly the Tbilisi Bacteriophage Institute in Georgia where bacteriophages are used for successful treatment of infections such as diabetic ulcers and wounds ... Bacteriophage therapy offers an alternative that needs to be taken seriously in Western Europe, says Derek Pickard. (EurekAlert!)
Bacteria-eating Virus a Counter to Superbug Aug 15, 2007
Initiated in the erstwhile Soviet Union during the Second World War, the bacteriophage is used as standard treatment in parts of Eastern Europe for bacterial infections from gangrene to strep throat. Consequent on overuse, many bacteria have become bacteria- resistant. (MedIndia)
Stalin's cure?A bacteria-eating virus used by the Red Army could tackle MRSA Aug 14, 2007
Red Army soldiers used bacteriophages against gangrene ... A new treatment for bacterial infections - antibiotics - was seeking to assert its supremacy over another fledgling therapy - a bacteria-devouring virus called a bacteriophage ... The initial euphoria around the bacteriophage as a means of combating what had been incurable conditions subsided and the virus was all but forgotten. (BBC News -- Health)
Researchers discover key mechanism to emergence of deadly strep bacteria Jul 16, 2007
The researchers found that a specific genetic mutation in the M1T1 strep clone controls the shift to this invasive form a property which they traced to an event that occurred about 30 years ago when a virus known as a bacteriophage infected the strep bacteria and introduced a new gene ... In the case of the invasive strep clone, a bacteriophage provided the bacterium a genetic advantage that turned a relatively benign pathogen into a potential deadly disease agent ... A gene present on the... (EurekAlert!)
Team Builds Viruses To Combat Harmful 'Biofilms' Jul 12, 2007
Lu and senior author James Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at BU, aim to eradicate these biofilms using bacteriophage, tiny viruses that attack bacteria. Phage have long been used in Eastern Europe and Russia to treat infection. (Science Daily)
FDA Extends GRAS Approval LISTEX(TM) to all Food Products Jul 3, 2007
WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands, July 3 /CNW/ - The FDA and USDA Announced Today They Have Approved LISTEX(TM) P100, the Natural Bacteriophage Product Against Listeria, as GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe), for all Food Products In the fight against Listeria, one of the most dangerous food pathogens, US food processing companies can now apply a novel yet natural tool: LISTEX(TM) bacteriophages ... Bacteriophages ('phage') are the most abundant micro-organisms on earth ... The LISTEX(TM)... (Canada Newswire)
Fighting Drug-Resistant Bugs Jun 9, 2007
Vincent Fischetti at Rockefeller University is enlisting the help of bacteriophages, viruses that infect only bacterial cells, leaving human ones alone ... USING A VIRUS TO ATTACK BACTERIA 1 A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria but not human cells. (Time.com)
Studying anthrax in a Soviet-era lab - with Western financing May 28, 2007
But scientists have another interest at Eliava as well: its work on bacteriophages, naturally occurring viruses that can be cultivated to target and kill specific strains of infectious bacteria. The institute has one of the largest collections of bacteriophage samples in the world, and its scientists are considered among the best ... "Eliava is a brand name in bacteriophages," said the institute's director, Revaz Adamia, who was Georgia's ambassador to the United Nations until taking on his... (International Herald Tribune -- Health)
Leading The Fight Against Food Poisoning May 25, 2007
The researchers intend to develop bacteriophage-based treatments for the control of Campylobacter. Bacteriophages the term literally means 'bacterium-eater' are naturally occurring agents that target and destroy bacteria with a high degree of efficiency, and do so selectively and specifically, without affecting beneficial bacteria or gut cells ... Both GangaGen and The University of Nottingham are leaders in bacteriophage research and view the technology as a vital breakthrough in the control of... (Science Daily)
Viral Enzyme Clears Ear Infection In Mice Mar 24, 2007
The enzyme is derived from a bacteriophage, a virus whose target is bacteria, rather than animal cells, Dr. McCullers and colleagues reported in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. While the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine appears to be lowering the incidence of acute otitis media in the U.S., the disease remains the "leading reason for physician visits and antibiotic prescriptions among preschool-aged children," Dr. McCullers and colleagues said. (MedPage Today)
New Approach Could Lower Antibiotic Requirements By 50 Times Jan 30, 2007
Antibiotic doses could be reduced by up to 50 times using a new approach based on bacteriophages. Steven Hagens, previously at the University of Vienna, told Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI, that certain bacteriophages, a type of virus that infects bacteria, can boost the effectiveness of antibiotics gentamicin, gramacidin or tetracycline ... Experiments in mice revealed that 75% of those infected with a lethal dose of Pseudomonas survived if the antibiotic gentamicin was... (Science Daily)
Esther Lederberg Dec 22, 2006
Her first big advance was the discovery of the lambda bacteriophage, published in Microbial Genetics Bulletin in 1951 ... Up to then, the only known bacteriophages were the lethal sort that invade the bacterium, multiply rapidly and kill it. (Guardian Unlimited -- Life)
Food getting safer - for the most part Dec 11, 2006
Baltimore-based Intralytix, for example, is developing spray-on viruses, known as bacteriophages, that kill harmful food-borne bacteria without affecting humans ... Last summer the company won FDA approval for a bacteriophage that fights Listeria monocytogenes, a microbe especially dangerous to pregnant women and elderly people with weak immune systems ... The company is now working on bacteriophage-based products against E. coli and salmonella. (Chicago Tribune)
The new age of the phage? Dec 3, 2006
He called the microbes bacteriophages, "bacteria eaters," and spent his career trying to use phages to cure human disease, travelling to French Indochina and India to treat victims of cholera and plague ... He has lobbied, with little success, to set up a Flix d'Hrelle centre for bacteriophage therapy. (Toronto Star -- Arts)
Engineers Develop More Than Tenfold Improvement In Measuring Virus Infectivity Nov 17, 2006
(February 4, 2002) -- Researchers have learned how the bacterial virus, bacteriophage T4, attacks its host, the E. coli bacterium. This discovery could eventually lead to a new class of antibiotics. (Science Daily)
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Viral Species Present In The World's Oceans Nov 8, 2006
Bacteriophage (phage) viruses are minute, self-replicating bundles that alter microorganisms' genetic material and moderate their communities through predation and parasitism ... In a new study published online this week in the open access journal PLoS Biology, Florent Angly, Forest Rohwer, and colleagues detail their metagenomic study of the diversity of bacteriophage present in water samples collected from 68 sites over 10 years from four oceanic regions (the Sargasso Sea, the Gulf of Mexico,... (Science Daily)
Keeping bugs out of bites Oct 9, 2006
BY DELTHIA RICKS Newsday Staff Writer. Last week, on the heels of the largest outbreak of E. coli involving produce, which sickened nearly 200 people nationwide, the federal government quietly released a report indicating that food-borne illnesses are declining. (Newsday -- Health)
E. Coli Collision Sep 27, 2006
The rigid protein coats of bacteriophages give them defined geometric shapes ... It turned out that the resistant sheep harbored a virus called a bacteriophage, or simply phage, that specifically preys on E. Coli bacteria. (Discover Magazine)
Latest Food Additive: Viruses Aug 28, 2006
From now on, these viruses known as bacteriophage or phage can be sprayed on ready-to-eat cold cuts and luncheon meats by manufacturers to prevent listeriosis, the most deadly of all food-borne illnesses in this country ... " The FDA spent four years evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the "cocktail" of several phage at the request of Intralytix Inc., a Baltimore, Md., biotechnology company. In presenting its petition, Intralytix referred the government to more than 20 studies documenting... (Los Angeles Times)
Researcher Hits Bulls-eye For Antibiotic Target Aug 23, 2006
(February 4, 2002) -- Researchers have learned how the bacterial virus, bacteriophage T4, attacks its host, the E. coli bacterium ... This photo of Escherichia coli being attacked by bacteriophages highlights rapidly developing technologies for using phages to treat antibiotic resistant infections without destroying normal. (Science Daily)
FDA approves viruses as food additive to prevent Listeriosis Aug 20, 2006
The food additive, the first of its kind ever approved by the FDA, is a mix of six types of bacteriophages - viruses that infect and kill host bacteria, in the present case, Listeria monocytogenes ... The viruses or bacteriophages are specifically targeted at Listeria and do not infect other bacteria, beneficial or otherwise ... Bacteriophages are naturally present, but it's not immediately clear whether the viruses are genetically engineered. (Food Consumer)
Viruses approved as food additive Aug 19, 2006
Bacteriophages meant to kill harmful bacteria on lunch meats ... The special viruses, called bacteriophages, are meant to kill strains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium, the Food and Drug Administration said in declaring it safe to use on ready-to-eat meats prior to their packaging ... The preparation of bacteriophages -- the name is Greek for "bacteria-eater" -- attacks only strains of the Listeria bacterium and not human or plant cells, the FDA said. (CNN -- International)
U.S. OKs spray to kill food bacteria Aug 19, 2006
Judged safe, effective Consumers shouldn't notice any difference in the taste or color of foods sprayed with the mixture of bacteriophages, as the bacteria-killing viruses are called, the FDA said ... Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit public advocacy group based in Washington, said bacteriophages were safely used in the Soviet Union to kill bacteria during surgeries and other medical treatments ... In the next year or so, Vazzana said, Intralytix... (Sunspot.net -- Business)
Andrew Kantor Jul 7, 2006
Phages, short for bacteriophages, are viruses that kill bacteria ... The phage for E. coli, for example (it's called "bacteriophage T4"), will only kill E. coli ... The center of the bacteriophage universe is the former Soviet republic of Georgia, home of the George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology. (USA Today -- Tech)
Complete genome sequence of Shigella flexneri 5b and comparison with Shigella flexneri 2a Jul 6, 2006
The bacteriophage SfV segment remaining in SHI-O of Sf8401 is clearly larger than the remnants of bacteriophage SfII in Sf301. SHI-1 is absent from Sf8401 but a specific related protein is found next to the pheV locus. (BioMed Central)
Professor's Phage-hunters Strike Pay Dirt Jun 13, 2006
The mosaic nature of bacteriophage genomes is illustrated by "phamily circles," displaying relationships between members of two "phamilies" of related genes, one in blue and one in red ... In the June 9, 2006, issue of PLoS Genetics, a research team headed by HHMI professor Graham Hatfull at the University of Pittsburgh reports that it has catalogued and characterized the genomes of 30 viruses called mycobacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria ... The paper not only reveals the... (Science Daily)
Symbiotic enemies fight over insect May 24, 2006
Wolbachia, a , manipulates reproduction in arthropods -- but may sometimes fight for the right to do so with its bacteriophage, according to a study published in PLoS Pathogens ... Working with the well-studied wasp Nasonia vitripennis, the team used quantitative PCR to enumerate Wolbachia bacteriophages (WO-B) and Wolbachia in vivo, and related these densities to CI levels observed in the wasp ... Seth Bordenstein et al. "The tripartite association between bacteriophage, Wolbachia and... (The Scientist)
Newly Discovered Protein Kills Anthrax Bacteria By Exploding Their Cell Walls Apr 22, 2006
All bacteria, anthrax included, have natural predators called bacteriophage. Just as viruses infect people, bacteriophage infect bacteria, reproduce, and then kill their host cell by bursting out to find their next target ... The bacteriophage use special proteins, called lysins, to bore holes in the bacteria, causing them to literally explode. (Science Daily)
New Images Capture Virus In Extraordinary Detail Feb 15, 2006
Structure of epilson15 bacteriophage, a virus that infects Salmonella ... The researchers, led by Wen Jiang and Wah Chiu of the National Center for Macromolecular Imaging at Baylor College of Medicine, focused on viruses that infect bacteria, known as bacteriophages ... Luria, who came to MIT in 1959, was the first scientist to show the structure of bacteriophages. (Science Daily)
Preparing for flu pandemic: Pall breathing filters can help protect patients, healthcare workers Jan 10, 2006
The filters have been challenged with bacterial (Brevundimonas diminuta) and viral (MS-2 bacteriophage) organisms that represent the gold standard for pathogen exclusion on the basis of size. "Based on the data and the size of the avian flu virus, we believe our filters can be an effective way to help eliminate the passage of influenza virus," Dr. Cervia adds. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
