Host-associated Bacteriophages Isolation Service
Viruses that infect bacteria and archaea (commonly referred to as bacteriophages or phages) are profoundly influence ecosystems. The association between phages and host systems has been known for decades and the involvement of phages in host-associated regulation of the microbiome has been appreciated recently. Since phages play useful roles in host ecosystem by regulating the number of bacteria. The involved studies in many host systems have emerged, from the base of animal life in the Cnidarian phylum to mammals. Viral metagenomics allows researchers to profile the communities of viruses associating with hosts, and helps to determine the specific function of these viruses as well as the sphere of viral involvement in gene flow and gene shuffling. Creative Proteomics provides the host-associated bacteriophages isolation and preparation service for viral metagenomics, including the isolation of phages in host-associated environments, purification of phages, enumeration of viral-like particles (VLPs).
The bacteriophages in host
The bacteriophages have two modes of life cycle, one involves the infection, replication, and lysis of the bacterium, termed as lytic phages; one involves the integration of virus into the genome of the bacterium in a proviral form, which can be activated to become a lytic virus, termed as temperate phages. Viruses likely help to associate with host metabolism, immunity and among others through regulating the number of bacteria and the strains of bacteria. Although the association between phages and host systems has been known for decades, only recently the involvement of phages in host-associated regulation of the microbiome has been appreciated. Particularly, phages have gained growing attention as an alternative candidate to antibiotics. A large number of bacteriophages are reported from seawater. The phage communities form a considerable reservoir of uncharacterized genetic diversity, providing a valuable resource to development of modern biotechnology.
Service offerings
The isolation of phages in host-associated environments
We applied standard isolation protocols for phages in different host-associated environments. The basic method of phage isolation has remained unchanged since it was developed, and usually described as the enrichment procedure due to many samples that do not have high concentrations of phages. Since sample type greatly influences the downstream analysis of sequencing data, sample pre-processing methods need to be specifically adapted according the characteristics of each type of sample. We provide specific types of processing for different types of samples (phages from water or soil), such as the procedure of filtration, precipitation and flocculation, the protocol of using zinc chloride and so on.
Purification of phages
The protocol of overlay density step gradient is applied, and this is optional according to customers' specific needs.
Enumeration of viral-like particles (VLPs)
The number of virus-like particles (VLPs) released during lysis of host cells is termed burst size, which is a critical parameter in regulating population dynamics of both the viruses themselves and the host. Epifluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are adopted to enumerate the VLPs. Compared to previous determinations, the counts of microscopic methods have increased by several orders of magnitude.
Creative Proteomics offers host-associated bacteriophages isolation services, including isolation and purification of phages, as well as enumeration of VLPs. We offer a one-stop solution service, and provide a service that can be optimized to customers' specifications. If you have any questions about our services, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are glad to serve you!
Reference
- Hyman P. (2019). "Phages for Phage Therapy: Isolation, Characterization, and Host Range Breadth." Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 12(1):35.
* For research use only.
