Overview of Phage

Creative Biolabs focuses on providing comprehensive phage services to global customers, such as phage manufacturing, phage detection, and phage-related vaccine development. With our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and decades of experience, we are confident to meet your unique project needs. Here, we provide a brief introduction to phage.

Definition

Phages are known to be a group of viruses that specialize in infecting specific bacteria. Phages are one of the most abundant creatures in the biosphere and can be found anywhere bacteria exist. Although phages are diverse in size and shape, the basic structure of phages is the same. They are composed of a protein capsid as well as a genetic core. Particularly, the core of phages is DNA or RNA. In addition, most phages also have a protein tail that specifically recognizes receptors of the host bacteria. Notably, similar to bacteria, phages are also divided into different categories based on their morphology and nucleic acid. Most importantly, phages are closely linked to the ecological balance of microbial life.

Life Cycles of Phages

During infection, phages adsorb to bacteria and inject their genome into the cell. Phages exhibit two distinct life cycles in bacteria, lytic and lysogenic. During the lytic cycle, the phages replicate and then lyses the cell to release new phage particles. During lysogenicity, phages integrate their genome into the bacterial chromosome and replicate with it as a unit without damaging the cell. At later stages, this mild dormant phage can re-enter the lytic cycle and release offspring.

Fig.1 The phage life cycle. (Kingwell, 2015)

Applications

• As phage-based therapies
• The treatment for diseases caused by bacteria is defined as phage therapy. In particular, phages are currently used to treat bacteria that are resistant to traditional antibiotics. Phage therapy is involved in many fields, such as human medicine, veterinary medicine, and agriculture.
• Phage-derived proteins often possess antibacterial activity and can act as peptidomimetic drugs, which provides a new perspective for drug discovery.
• Phages as perfect vehicles can also be designed to be the phage-based vaccines, such as phage-displayed vaccines, phage DNA vaccines, and hybrid phage vaccines.
• As biocides
• Phages act as biological agents by killing bacteria in soil and water pollution.
• Phages function as biocides for cleaning environmental surfaces.
• Phages implicated in food safety and protection against spoilage bacteria.
• For diagnostics
• Several phage-based products for in vitro diagnostics have been approved. Phages play a vital role in the identification, classification, and detection of pathogenic bacteria.
• For basic research
• Phages are indispensable model organisms involved in studying the concept of evolution and ecology.

Phage Related Services at Creative Biolabs

• Manufacturing of Phage
• Manufacturing of Phage Lysin
• Development of Phage-based Therapy
• Development of Phage Lysin-based Therapy
• Development of Phage-based Vaccines
• Phage-based Bacterial Pathogen Detection

If you have any difficulties with your phage research project, please feel free to contact us to discuss your project plan and get a dedicated solution.

Reference:

1. Kingwell, K. Bacteriophage therapies re-enter clinical trials. Drug Discovery. 2015, 14(8): 515.