Isolation of Competitive Phage Display-Modified Bacteriophage T4 with Affinity Chromatography

Phage recovery from various solutions, including physiological samples, as well as phage purification from crude lysates often requires a specific isolation method. Here, we demonstrate that T4-like phages can be efficiently isolated by affinity chromatography. This approach employs specific affinity tags (GST (glutathione S-transferase) or His-tag) that allow for the isolation of the phage. These affinity tags are exposed on the phage head using phage display. By combining competitive phage display and affinity chromatography, wild-type phages can be specifically recovered from mixtures with other phage/s, from solutions of very low phage concentration, or purified from crude phage lysates.