Phage Genomic Analysis

Phage therapy is a good alternative to antibiotics by using bacteriophages to treat various infections caused by bacteria. Equipped with world-leading technology platforms and professional scientific staff, Creative Biolabs provides providing novel phage genomic analysis for our clients all over the world.

Introduction and Necessary of Phage Genomic Analysis

In the past decades, the misuse of antibiotics has led to a dramatic increase in multidrug resistance. As an alternative to antibiotics, phage therapy has shown surprising potential in treating bacterial infections by using phage alone or in combination with traditional antibiotics and has been demonstrated in emergency cases. However, a big limiting factor is the lack of assessment of the safety of phage genomes, which has led to the fact that the therapy is not yet widely available in the United States.

In addition to genome quality, the absence of antimicrobial virulence, lifestyle, and deleterious genes are important determinants for evaluating whether phages can be therapeutic candidates. For example, lysis and lysogeny are two distinct states of the phage lifestyle, while lysis is an essential state for phage therapeutic candidates. Some bacteriophages may mediate enhanced virulence in bacterial infection, so the presence of genes encoding virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance, toxins, or transducible elements should be avoided in genetic screening assays.

Phage Genomic Analysis Service

In recent years, the number and diversity of newly discovered phages is increasing rapidly, and the number of complete phage genomes in the NCBI database is constantly expanding. Creative Biolabs provides the phage genomic analysis to obtain high-quality genomes and avoid undesirable candidates. This workflow assesses the safety of bacteriophage genomes by genome sequencing. Our service portfolio includes but is not limited to:

• Complete genome analysis to describe critical features of phages.
• Evolutionary genomic analysis to understand the evolutionary relationship between different phages.
• Comparative genomic analysis to learn about phage-host interactions.
• Functional phages screening for phage therapy.

Workflow of Phage Genomic Analysis

To complete our analysis, we employ standard workflows to ensure the accuracy of data and results. Of course, according to the specific needs of customers, we can also provide customized services. The general service process includes:

• Phage isolation and genomic DNA extraction
• Library preparation and sequencing
• Gene functional annotation
• Bioinformatics analysis

Fig.1 Phage characterization workflow. (Philipson, 2018)

Creative Biolabs offers the most advanced and comprehensive phage genomic analysis assay available today. We work to amplify your success in a highly collaborative manner. If you are interested in our services, please do not hesitate to contact us for detailed information.

Reference:

1. Philipson, C.W.; et al. Characterizing Phage Genomes for Therapeutic Applications. Viruses 10. 2018.