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Buttimer C, Sutton T, Colom J, Murray E, Bettio PH, Smith L, Bolocan AS, Shkoporov A, Oka A, Liu B, Herzog JW, Sartor RB, Draper LA, Ross RP, Hill C. Impact of a phage cocktail targeting Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis as members of a gut bacterial consortium in vitro and in vivo. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:936083. [PMID: 35935217 PMCID: PMC9355613 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.936083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis have been implicated as important players in human gut health that have been associated with the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Bacteriophage (phage) therapy has been used for decades to target pathogens as an alternative to antibiotics, but the ability of phage to shape complex bacterial consortia in the lower gastrointestinal tract is not clearly understood. We administered a cocktail of six phages (either viable or heat-inactivated) targeting pro-inflammatory Escherichia coli LF82 and Enterococcus faecalis OG1RF as members of a defined community in both a continuous fermenter and a murine colitis model. The two target strains were members of a six species simplified human microbiome consortium (SIHUMI-6). In a 72-h continuous fermentation, the phage cocktail caused a 1.1 and 1.5 log (log10 genome copies/mL) reduction in E. faecalis and E. coli numbers, respectively. This interaction was accompanied by changes in the numbers of other SIHUMI-6 members, with an increase of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (1.7 log) and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (1.8 log). However, in germ-free mice colonized by the same bacterial consortium, the same phage cocktail administered twice a week over nine weeks did not cause a significant reduction of the target strains. Mice treated with active or inactive phage had similar levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-y/IL12p40) in unstimulated colorectal colonic strip cultures. However, histology scores of the murine lower GIT (cecum and distal colon) were lower in the viable phage-treated mice, suggesting that the phage cocktail did influence the functionality of the SIHUMI-6 consortium. For this study, we conclude that the observed potential of phages to reduce host populations in in vitro models did not translate to a similar outcome in an in vivo setting, with this effect likely brought about by the reduction of phage numbers during transit of the mouse GIT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Buttimer
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Tom Sutton
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Joan Colom
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Ellen Murray
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Pedro H. Bettio
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Linda Smith
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | | | | | - Akihiko Oka
- Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
- Department of Internal Medicine II, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan
| | - Bo Liu
- Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Jeremy W. Herzog
- Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - R. Balfour Sartor
- Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | | | - R. Paul Ross
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Colin Hill
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Abstract
Synthetic biology is enabling rapid advances in the areas of biomanufacturing and live therapeutics. Dynamic circuits that can be used to regulate cellular resources and microbial community behavior represent a defining focus of synthetic biology, and have attracted tremendous interest. However, the existing dynamic circuits are mostly gene editing-dependent or cell lysis-based, which limits their broad and convenient application, and in some cases, such lysis-based circuits can suffer from genetic instability due to evolution. There is limited research in quorum sensing-assisted CRISPRi, which can function in a gene editing-independent manner. Here, we constructed a series of quorum sensing controlled CRISPRi systems (Q-CRISPRi), which can dynamically program bacteria by using customized sgRNA without introducing cell lysis. We successfully applied Q-CRISPRi circuits to dynamically program gene expression, population density, phenotype, physical property, and community composition of microbial consortia. The strategies reported here represent methods for dynamic cell programming and could be effective in programming industrially and medically important microorganisms to offer better control of their metabolism and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yilan Liu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - Jinjin Chen
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - David Crisante
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - Jhoselyn Marisol Jaramillo Lopez
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahadevan
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
- Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
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