Diversity of Tailed Bacteriophages Infecting Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

The widespread prevalence of antibiotic resistance makes it important to develop effective treatments for nosocomial infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most dangerous opportunistic pathogens causing such infections. Bacteriophages (aka “phages”), viruses that infect bacteria, may be a possible complement or alternative to antibiotics. So-called “phage therapy” is becoming increasingly popular these days because it has some advantages in treating infections caused by bacteria possessing multiple drug resistance (MDR). However, phages often can destroy only a limited number of bacterial strains, or in other words, phages often have a narrow host range. In addition, phage genomes may contain genes associated with bacterial virulence or MDR, and some phages, named temperate phages, can integrate into the bacterial genome. Many important characteristics of phages can be predicted by careful analysis of their genomes. However, the discovery of new phages has outpaced the comprehensive analysis of their genomes. In this study, common genomic features of the major phage groups infecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa were predicted and analyzed. The analysis allowed taxonomic updates to be proposed, identified groups suitable for further study for use in phage therapy, and pointed out potential pitfalls of using some phages for this purpose.