The Mysteries of the Phage

The phage could save our future in health.

A bacteriophage looks like the ultimate out-of-this-world structure, with a geometric head, attached to a tube, and ending in tail fibers that are essentially its landing gear. Watching a bacteriophage attach itself to its host bacteria is eerily reminiscent of a spaceship landing on a planet. The bacteriophage then pierces the surface of the cell, injects its genetic material into it, and proceeds to take over.

While this might look like something out of a science fiction movie, the humble phage exists anywhere there are bacteria. This includes the gut, where researchers are now working to understand what phages are doing in their natural environment, and then how to engineer them to benefit us. I interviewed Dr. Jeremy Barr about his work on bacteriophages and their role in the human gut, and what we can expect in the future from these exciting life forms.

References

1. Bacteriophage-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii are resensitized to antimicrobials (Altamirano et. al. Nature Microbiology volume 6, pages157–161(2021) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00830-7
2. Phages to shape the gut microbiota? (Dahlman et. al., Current Opinion in Biotechnology Volume 68, April 2021, Pages 89-95) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166920301452
3. Rethinking phage-bacteria-eukaryotic relationships and their influence on human health (Wahida et. al., Cell Host and Microbe 17th March 2021) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193131282100086X
4. Bacteriophage uptake by mammalian cell layers represents a potential sink that may impact phage therapy (Bichet et. al., iScience Volume 24, Issue 4, 23 April 2021, 102287) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221002558

© ShebaAJ, Jeremy Barr

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