Hi Emily, the phage being temperate or lytic doesn’t affect the experiment necessarily (as in, none of the procedure changes due to the phage being temperate vs. lytic), but it does give us more information about how the phage can be used as a treatment in the future, and helps us form our cluster hypothesis.
Thanks for such a great presentation Aspen, I was curious how bacteriophages can be used as possible antibiotics? You talked about how they can be used, but I am curious about the specifics of how it works. Thanks!
Hi Quinton, bacteriophages can be used as an alternative to antibiotics because they can infect and kill bacteria, and they’ve evolved to be very good at it. By introducing a bacteriophage to an infection, the phage can kill bacterial cells by lysing them. They essentially latch onto the bacteria, inject their DNA into it, use the bacterial cell to replicate, and then kill the bacterial cell by bursting it open as they exit. In terms of delivery methods, phage can be introduced to the infection in a variety of different ways depending on the location. For example, if a patient has a lung infection, phage could be introduced via inhalation. Finally, to prevent the patient’s immune system from attacking the phage before it can kill the bacteria, there are several strategies. One such strategy is to encapsulate the phage inside of a liposome so that the body’s immune system can’t detect it. This is just a very basic explanation of the “how it works” because bacteriophage therapy is so complicated, but I hope it answers your question! Let me know if you have any more.
Hi Javiera, each type of primer is specific to a different subcluster of phage. They recognize a DNA sequence which is only found (typically) in that subcluster. Thus, if the primers don’t amplify the DNA, that sequence doesn’t exist within it and it’s unlikely to be a part of that subcluster. If the sequence does exist within the DNA sample, the primers will amplify it and create (usually only one) a band. In the case of our experiment, there were 3 bands, which implies that there were three places where this specific sequence existed within our phage’s DNA. This is unusual, which is why we would like to confirm those results in future experiments. Hope this answers your question!
Hi Chhavinder, the next step would be to sequence the genome of the phage. This will give us important information about the phage and will also allow us to confirm or reject our cluster hypothesis. Knowing the cluster is very important because phage are very specific about what bacteria they infect.
How does having a temperate or lytic phage affect the experiment?
Hi Emily, the phage being temperate or lytic doesn’t affect the experiment necessarily (as in, none of the procedure changes due to the phage being temperate vs. lytic), but it does give us more information about how the phage can be used as a treatment in the future, and helps us form our cluster hypothesis.
Thanks for such a great presentation Aspen, I was curious how bacteriophages can be used as possible antibiotics? You talked about how they can be used, but I am curious about the specifics of how it works. Thanks!
Hi Quinton, bacteriophages can be used as an alternative to antibiotics because they can infect and kill bacteria, and they’ve evolved to be very good at it. By introducing a bacteriophage to an infection, the phage can kill bacterial cells by lysing them. They essentially latch onto the bacteria, inject their DNA into it, use the bacterial cell to replicate, and then kill the bacterial cell by bursting it open as they exit. In terms of delivery methods, phage can be introduced to the infection in a variety of different ways depending on the location. For example, if a patient has a lung infection, phage could be introduced via inhalation. Finally, to prevent the patient’s immune system from attacking the phage before it can kill the bacteria, there are several strategies. One such strategy is to encapsulate the phage inside of a liposome so that the body’s immune system can’t detect it. This is just a very basic explanation of the “how it works” because bacteriophage therapy is so complicated, but I hope it answers your question! Let me know if you have any more.
Hi Aspen, great presentation! How do the types of primers affect the PCR?
Hi Javiera, each type of primer is specific to a different subcluster of phage. They recognize a DNA sequence which is only found (typically) in that subcluster. Thus, if the primers don’t amplify the DNA, that sequence doesn’t exist within it and it’s unlikely to be a part of that subcluster. If the sequence does exist within the DNA sample, the primers will amplify it and create (usually only one) a band. In the case of our experiment, there were 3 bands, which implies that there were three places where this specific sequence existed within our phage’s DNA. This is unusual, which is why we would like to confirm those results in future experiments. Hope this answers your question!
What would be the next step to developing an antibiotic using this phage?
Hi Chhavinder, the next step would be to sequence the genome of the phage. This will give us important information about the phage and will also allow us to confirm or reject our cluster hypothesis. Knowing the cluster is very important because phage are very specific about what bacteria they infect.