🔬 Phage Takes

Bacteriophage Ecology Group News, or BEG News, was published mostly quarterly as an online newsletter for a total of 26 issues, starting July 1, 1999 and continuing through December 31, 2007. As follows is a reprint of an article from the newsletter, authored by J.-Y. Maillard, and originally published in Letters in Applied Microbiology 23:273-274, 1996, reprinted here with permission. Also included in issues were lists of new members to the Bacteriophage Ecology Group, an introduction to new website features, a list of upcoming meetings, phage images found on the web (remember, this was 2000, so effectively pre-Google), etc., but most of all, a listing of new phage ecology-related publications. The newsletter was modelled after T4 News, which was a printed newsletter distributed earlier in the 1990s. The newsletter's successors are the ongoing Phage.org website, phage-therapy.org, and the Bacteriophage Ecology Group Facebook page.

It is important to assess and control the presence of viruses and their inactivation from surfaces (e.g. inanimate surfaces, body Tissues, Nosocomial equipment) and Water (e.g. drinking, Sewage and sea water). Since the detection and use of Mammalian viruses can be fastidious, bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) offer potential alternatives in the following areas:

1. bacteriophages as a model system

Alongside the use of bacteriophages as index micro-organisms, their development and their employment as analogues of human viruses are due to the advantages they present. Bacteriophages infect only bacterial cells and are therefore not Pathogenic. Their infection cycle is more rapid than that of human viruses, and complex and expensive culture media are not needed for their propagation. Also, the lytic infection cycle ends with lysis of the Bacterial host, subsequently forming plaques, which are easy to assess, whereas the lysogenic cycle ends ultimately with the expression of 'foreign Genes' in the host Cell, providing a tool for the study of gene transfer. Finally, bacteriophages are widespread in the environment and are extremely diversified in their structure and can thus be used to study a variety of viruses of higher organisms.

2. Bacteriophages as an index system for enteric pathogens

The index function of bacteriophages is used to predict the possible presence of pathogenic organisms. In this respect several Phages have been investigated as potential index systems for the contamination of swimming pools, and ground, drinking, sewage and Shellfish water by faecal Micro-organisms such as enteroviruses (Hedberg and Osterholm 1993). Three major groups of phages have been considered to achieve this function: Somatic, F-RNA and Bacteroides fragilis bacteriophages. The last two are thought to be the most adequate as index micro-organisms (Havelaar and Pot-Hogeboom 1988; Havelaar 1993; Nasser et al. 1995). Bacteroides fragilis phages appear to be of particular interest due to their faecal origin (Grabow et al. 1995). However, Callahan et al. (1995) recently described the use of somatic Salmonella bacteriophages as index micro-organisms for enteric viruses in sea water. Therefore, the use of bacteriophages as index organisms depends upon the type of waters which are contaminated with pathogenic viruses. Furthermore, their use has to be subjected to several well-defined criteria (Havelaar 1993).

3. Bacteriophages as an indicator system for enteric viral pathogens

The indicator function of bacteriophages is used to predict the efficacy of Antimicrobial treatments. In this respect, coliphages, such as MS2 and f2 (Kott et al. 1972; Tartera et al. 1988; Maillard et al. 1994; Havelaar et al. 1995), have been widely studied, mainly to monitor the 'removal' of human enteroviruses (i.e., poliovirus, human rotavirus, Hepatitis A virus and adenovirus) from various water sources. However, Finch and Fairbain (1991) showed that MS2 treatment by ozone was not indicative of the inactivation of poliovirus type-3. Therefore, the use of bacteriophages as indicators depends upon the type of antimicrobial treatments and the type of viruses investigated. Other bacteriophages such as the Bact. fragilis phages have also been considered as indicators for enteroviral contamination because of their resistance to decontamination processes (Abad et al. 1994; Armon and Kott 1995; Bosch et al. 1995; Jofre et al. 1995a, b).

4. Bacteriophages as tools for studying mechanisms of viral disinfection

Bacteriophages are also potential tools for studying rapidly and accurately the mechanisms of action of viricidal processes. Several biocides, as well as heat and Radiation, have been tested against coliphages such as MS2 (Davies et al. 1993) and K (Maillard et al. 1994) and pseudomonad phages such as F116 (Maillard et al. 1993) and phi6 (Woolwine and Gerberding 1995). Bacteriophages are used as an investigating tool mainly because of their structure but also because of some particularly features. In this respect, Rheinbaben et al. (1992) investigated the disinfection of lactococcal phages P001, P008 and P109 and ϕX174 coliphage because of their thermal stability at high temperatures (i.e. 55-60°C). Woolwine and Gerberding (1995) studied the inactivation of the Pseudomonas syringae phi6 phage because of the presence of a surrounding Envelope. The Ps. aeruginosa F116 phage is currently being used as a tool for investigating the mechanism of the viricidal action of biocides. Its well-defined complex structure and its large size have been used to identify damage to the phage structure (Maillard et al. 1995a) after exposure to antimicrobial agents. Furthermore, F116 phage is also able to transduce. Maillard et al. (1995b) showed that the transduction process was extremely sensitive to disinfection.

J.-Y. Maillard
Welsh School of Pharmacy
University of Wales College of Cardiff
Cardiff CF1 3XF
UK

Reprinted with permission from Letters in Applied microbiology, 1996, 23:273-274.

References

Abad, F.X., Pintó, R.M. and Bosch, A. (1994) Survival of enteric viruses on environmental Fomites. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60:3704-3710.
Armon, R. and Kott, Y. (1995) Distribution comparison between coliphages and phages of anaerobic Bacteria (Bacteroides fragilis) in water sources, and their reliability as fecal pollution indicators in drinking-water. Water Science and Technology 31:215-222.
Bosch, A., Pintó, R.M. and Abad, F.X. (1995) Differential accumulation and depuration of human enteric viruses by mussels. Water Science and Technology 31:447-451.
Callahan, K.M., Taylor, D.J. and Sobsey, M.D. (1995) Comparative survival of Hepatitis-A Virus, poliovirus and indicator viruses in geographically diverse seawaters. Water Science and Technology 31:189-193.
Davies, J.G., Babb, J.R., Bradley, C.R. and Ayliffe, G.A. (1993) Preliminary study of test methods to assess the virucidal activity of skin Disinfectants using poliovirus and bacteriophages. Journal of Hospital Infection 25:125-131.
Grabow, W.O.K., Neubrech, T.E., Holtzhausen, C.S. and Jofre, J. (1995) Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli bacteriophages — excretion by Humans and animals. Water Science and Technology 31:223-230.
Finch, G.R. and Fairbain, N. (1991) Comparative inactivation of poliovirus type 3 and MS2 coliphage in demand-free phosphate buffer by using ozone. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 57:3121-3126.
Havelaar, A.H. (1993) Bacteriophages as models of human enteric viruses in the environment. ASM News 59:614-619.
Havelaar, A.H. and Pot-Hogeboom, W.M. (1988) F-specific RNA bacteriophages as model viruses in water hygiene: ecological aspects. Water Science and Technology 20:399-407.
Havelaar, A.H., Vanolphen, M. and Schijven, J.F. (1995) Removal and inactivation of viruses by drinking-water treatment processes under full-scale conditions. Water Science and Technology 31:55-62.
Hedberg, C.W. and Osterholm, M.T. (1993) Outbreak of food-borne and waterborne viral gastroenteritis. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 6:199-210.
Jofre, J., Ollé, E., Lucena, F. and Ribas, F. (1995a) Bacteriophage removal in water-treatment plants. Water Science and Technology 31:69-73.
Jofre, J., Ollé, E., Ribas, F., Vidal, A. and Lucena, F. (1995b) Potential usefulness of bacteriophages that infect Bacteroides fragilis as model organisms for monitoring virus removal in drinking treatment plants. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 61:3227-3231.
Kott, Y., Roze, N., Sperber, S. and Betzer, N. (1974) Bacteriophages as viral pollution indicators. Water Research 8:165-171.
Maillard, J.-Y., Beggs, T.S., Day, M.J., Hudson, R.A. and Russell, A.D. (1993) Effect of biocides on Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage F116. Letters in Applied Microbiology 17:167-170.
Maillard, J.-Y., Beggs, T.S., Day, M.J., Hudson, R.A. and Russell, A.D. (1994) Effects of biocides on MS2 and K coliphages. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 3:849-853.
Maillard, J.-Y., Hann, A.C., Beggs, T.S., Day, M.J., Hudson, R.A. and Russell, A.D. (1995a) Electron micrographic investigation of the effect of biocides on Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO bacteriophage F116. Journal of Medical microbiology 42:415-420.
Maillard, J.-Y., Beggs, T.S., Day, M.J., Hudson, R.A. and Russell, A.D. (1995b) The effects of biocides on the transduction of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO by F116 bacteriophages. Letters in Applied Microbiology 21:215-218.
Nasser, A., Weinberg, D., Dinoor, N., Fattal, B. and Adin, A. (1995) Removal of hepatitis-A virus (HAV), poliovirus and MS2 coliphage by Coagulation and high-rate Filtration. Water Science and Technology 31:63-68.
Pintó, R.M., Abad, F.X., Roca, R.M., Riera, J.M., Bosch, A. (1991) The use of bacteriophages of Bacteroides fragilis as indicators of the efficiency of virucidal products. FEMS Microbiology Letters 82:61-66.
Rheinbaben, F.V., Bansemir, K.-P. and Heinzel, M. (1992) Virucidal effectiveness of some commercial disinfectants for chemothermal disinfection procedures tested against temperature resistant viruses and bacteriophages. Zentralblatt für Hygiene 192:419-431.
Tartera, C., Bosch, A. and Jofre, J. (1988) The inactivation of bacteriophages infecting Bacteroides fragilis by Chlorine treatment and UV-irradiation. FEMS Microbiology Letters 56:313-316.
Woolwine, J.D. and Gerberding, J.L. (1995) Effect of testing method on apparent activities of viral disinfectants and antiseptics. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 39:921-923.

See Also

Maillard, J.-Y. (1996). Bacteriophages: a model system for human viruses. Letters in Applied Microbiology 23:273-274. 10.1111/j.1472-765X.1996.tb00187.x