National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand.
National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 29;12(1):13001. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16795-y.
Bacteriophages offer a sustainable alternative for controlling crop disease. However, the lack of knowledge on phage infection mechanisms makes phage-based biological control varying and ineffective. In this work, we interrogated the temperature dependence of the infection and thermo-responsive behavior of the C22 phage. This soilborne podovirus is capable of lysing Ralstonia solanacearum, causing bacterial wilt disease. We revealed that the C22 phage could better infect the pathogenic host cell when incubated at low temperatures (25, 30 °C) than at high temperatures (35, 40 °C). Measurement of the C22 phage stiffness revealed that the phage stiffness at low temperatures was 2-3 times larger than at high temperatures. In addition, the imaging results showed that more C22 phage particles were attached to the cell surface at low temperatures than at high temperatures, associating the phage stiffness and the phage attachment. The result suggests that the structure and stiffness modulation in response to temperature change improve infection, providing mechanistic insight into the C22 phage lytic cycle. Our study signifies the need to understand phage responses to the fluctuating environment for effective phage-based biocontrol implementation.
噬菌体为控制作物病害提供了一种可持续的替代方法。然而，由于缺乏对噬菌体感染机制的了解，基于噬菌体的生物防治效果参差不齐。在这项工作中，我们研究了 C22 噬菌体感染的温度依赖性和热响应行为。这种土壤来源的 podovirus 能够裂解青枯雷尔氏菌，引起细菌性萎蔫病。我们发现，与高温（35、40°C）相比，C22 噬菌体在低温（25、30°C）下更能感染致病宿主细胞。对 C22 噬菌体硬度的测量表明，噬菌体在低温下的硬度比在高温下大 2-3 倍。此外，成像结果表明，与高温相比，低温下更多的 C22 噬菌体颗粒附着在细胞表面上，这与噬菌体的硬度和噬菌体的附着有关。结果表明，结构和硬度的调节以响应温度变化可提高感染能力，为 C22 噬菌体裂解周期提供了机制上的见解。我们的研究表明，需要了解噬菌体对环境波动的反应，以有效实施基于噬菌体的生物防治。
