Determining the Life Cycles of Gordonia rubripertincta Phages

Determining the Life Cycles of Gordonia rubripertincta Phages

Alvin Sherman Library

Antibiotic resistance continues to rise globally, increasingly limiting the effectiveness of conventional antimicrobial treatments and prompting the exploration of alternative therapies. Bacteriophages are viruses that can specifically infect and kill bacteria, and have emerged as a promising solution, particularly for infections resistant to antibiotics. This study is part of the Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program, which aims to isolate, characterize, and catalog bacteriophages for research and potential therapeutic use. We focused on bacteriophages infecting Gordonia rubripertincta, an actinobacterium with growing clinical relevance as an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients and catheter related infections. Specifically, the novel Gordonia phages Charminar, Tuti, and Astralis were investigated to determine whether they followed lytic or lysogenic life cycles, a critical distinction for therapeutic and genetic applications. Strictly lytic phages that lyse and kill bacteria are preferred for phage therapy, while lysogenic phages that insert their genome into their host genome may serve as genetic tools. After screening for genetic markers associated with lysogeny, including integrase and repressor genes, and those associated with the lytic life cycle such as lysins and holins, we hypothesized that the bacteriophages Charminar and Astralis were lytic, while Tuti is lysogenic. To test this hypothesis, we will be using techniques to quantify the efficiency of lysogeny and assays to detect phage release from potential lysogens. Findings from this study will expand our knowledge of Gordonia-infecting phages and contribute to the growing potential of phage therapy.