Two Novel Lytic Bacteriophages Infecting spp. Are Promising Candidates for Targeted Antibacterial Therapy.

The rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance is of major concern globally. Among the most worrying pathogenic bacteria are vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Phage therapy is a highly promising method for controlling enterococcal infections. In this study, we described two virulent tailed bacteriophages possessing lytic activity against and isolates. The SSsP-1 bacteriophage belonged to the genus of the family, and the GVEsP-1 bacteriophage belonged to the genus of . The genomes of both viruses carried putative components of anti-CRISPR systems and did not contain known genes coding for antibiotic-resistance determinants and virulence factors. The conservative arrangement of protein-coding sequences in and genomes taken together with positive results of treating enterococcal peritonitis in an animal infection model imply the potential suitability of GVEsP-1 and SSsP-1 bacteriophages for clinical applications.