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Phollow: Visualizing Gut Bacteriophage Transmission within Microbial Communities and Living Animals
Lizett Ortiz de Ora1, Elizabeth T Wiles1, Mirjam Zünd1
1Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|June 25, 2024
Summary
Phollow, a new live imaging technique, tracks bacterial viruses (phages) in real-time within zebrafish. This method reveals how phages spread in the gut and other organs, offering insights into microbiome engineering and viral therapies.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Virology
- Microbiome Research
Background:
- Bacterial viruses (phages) are crucial for microbial community dynamics and microbiome engineering.
- Studying phage transmission in complex communities and animal hosts is challenging.
- Existing methods limit in situ visualization of phage replication and spread.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel live imaging approach for tracking phage dynamics in situ.
- To visualize phage transmission and replication within a living vertebrate host.
- To investigate the impact of environmental factors, like antibiotics, on phage-host interactions.
Main Methods:
- Creation of "Phollow": a live imaging technique enabling single-virion resolution tracking.
- Utilizing optically transparent zebrafish as a model organism for in vivo studies.
- Combining live imaging with defined microbial communities to observe phage behavior.
Main Results:
- Direct visualization of phage uptake by intestinal tissues, including enteroendocrine cells.
- Observation of rapid phage dissemination to extraintestinal sites like the liver and brain.
- Demonstration that antibiotics induce interbacterial phage transmission, altering community structure.
Conclusions:
- Phollow enables unprecedented multiscale investigations of phage biology in vivo.
- The study provides critical insights into phage transmission dynamics and host interactions.
- Findings open new possibilities for developing phage-based microbiome therapies and engineering strategies.
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