Vadym Poniatovskyi, Volodymyr Shyrobokov
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology with the Basics of Immunology, Bogomolets National Medical University, 34 Beresteiskyi Avenue, Kyiv, 03055, Ukraine.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 Aug 5;25(1):483. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-04219-6.
The use of bacteriophages as adjunct antibacterial agents in combating antimicrobial resistance is being actively studied worldwide. Due to their high specificity and ability to replicate within bacterial hosts, phages are used in various fields, including medicine, the food industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, biotechnology, and microbial identification. Despite their exceptional properties, the self-replication process of phages depends on multiple factors that may lead to a decrease in phage concentration during production and storage. The composition of the culture medium used for the cultivation of host bacteria is one of the critical parameters affecting phage infection and replication processes.
In this study, we evaluated the effect of different carbohydrates in the nutrient medium on the infection and amplification of bacteriophages in a Staphylococcus aureus bacterial culture. We used the bacteriophage St12f, isolated from environmental samples, and tested 21 carbohydrates and their derivatives. The experimental results confirmed that the addition of carbohydrates to nutrient media either inhibited or enhanced the plaque formation. The addition of 1% inositol (P ≥ 0.05) and maltose (P < 0.05) to the nutrient medium enhanced plaque formation by the St12f phage, whereas sucrose, lactose, mannitol, sorbitol, glycerol, rhamnose, xylose, arabinose, and glucose (P < 0.05) at the same concentration significantly inhibited the formation of phage plaques. Furthermore, we identified a dependence of phage replication (inhibition/enhancement) on the carbohydrate concentration in the medium.
The experimental data obtained contribute to a deeper understanding of the metabolic interactions between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts, as well as to the optimization of phage production for therapeutic applications. Further research should focus on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and assessing its clinical significance.
作为辅助抗菌剂用于对抗抗菌素耐药性的噬菌体正在全球范围内得到积极研究。由于其高度特异性以及在细菌宿主内复制的能力，噬菌体被应用于各个领域，包括医学、食品工业、农业、畜牧业、生物技术以及微生物鉴定。尽管噬菌体具有卓越的特性，但其自我复制过程取决于多种因素，这些因素可能导致在生产和储存过程中噬菌体浓度降低。用于培养宿主细菌的培养基成分是影响噬菌体感染和复制过程的关键参数之一。
在本研究中，我们评估了营养培养基中不同碳水化合物对金黄色葡萄球菌培养物中噬菌体感染和扩增的影响。我们使用从环境样本中分离出的噬菌体St12f，并测试了21种碳水化合物及其衍生物。实验结果证实，向营养培养基中添加碳水化合物会抑制或增强噬菌斑形成。向营养培养基中添加1%的肌醇（P≥0.05）和麦芽糖（P<0.05）可增强St12f噬菌体的噬菌斑形成，而相同浓度的蔗糖、乳糖、甘露醇、山梨醇、甘油、鼠李糖、木糖、阿拉伯糖和葡萄糖（P<0.05）则显著抑制噬菌体噬菌斑的形成。此外我们还确定了噬菌体复制（抑制/增强）对培养基中碳水化合物浓度的依赖性。
所获得的实验数据有助于更深入地理解噬菌体与其细菌宿主之间的代谢相互作用，以及优化用于治疗应用的噬菌体生产。进一步的研究应集中于阐明这一现象背后的分子机制并评估其临床意义。
