Phenotypic characterization of new Staphylococcus epidermidis phages able to transfer plasmids and genomic islands
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Tomáškovy dny 2020 - XXIX. konference mladých mikrobiologů |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://www.med.muni.cz/tomdny/program |
| Description | Staphylococcus epidermidis is a bacterium capable of causing diseases and a potential source of antimicrobial resistance. This resistance can be transferred horizontally among bacteria, mostly by bacteriophages. Only few phages have been characterized in detail so far, despite their ability to provide bacteria with these interesting properties. Our work characterizes S. epidermidis phages that were not described previously and demonstrates their ability to transfer mobile genetic elements including antimicrobial resistance genes carrying plasmids. We selected four S. epidermidis phages ?27, ?48, ?456 and ?459 previously used for phage-typing and characterized them in detail. All phages have a narrow host range and according to electron microscopy, they belong to the family Siphoviridaeand have similar morphology. We performed transduction experiments with plasmids and confirmed the transduction potential of phage ?27, which transferred a streptomycin-resistance plasmid with high efficiency. We also detected transduction potential in phage ?48 which is naturally capable of transferring chromosomal island of its propagation strain. We confirmed the ability of this phage to package the island by PCR, detected small transducing particles by electron microscopy, and transferred this island to recipient strains. The phage was also demonstrated to transfer other chromosomal islands. Our findings support the role of S. epidermidis phages in the spread of both antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes. This work was supported by Grant of Czech Science Foundation (GA18-13064S) and Development Fund of Masaryk University MUNI/FR/1181/2018. |
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