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Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation

Bacteriophages or phages, the viruses of bacteria, are abundant components of most ecosystems, including those where bacteria predominantly occupy biofilm niches. Understanding the phage impact on bacterial biofilms therefore can be crucial toward understanding both phage and bacterial ecology. Here...

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Autores principales: Abedon, Stephen T., Danis-Wlodarczyk, Katarzyna M., Wozniak, Daniel J., Sullivan, Matthew B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8234374/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34205417
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061175
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author Abedon, Stephen T.
Danis-Wlodarczyk, Katarzyna M.
Wozniak, Daniel J.
Sullivan, Matthew B.
author_facet Abedon, Stephen T.
Danis-Wlodarczyk, Katarzyna M.
Wozniak, Daniel J.
Sullivan, Matthew B.
author_sort Abedon, Stephen T.
collection PubMed
description Bacteriophages or phages, the viruses of bacteria, are abundant components of most ecosystems, including those where bacteria predominantly occupy biofilm niches. Understanding the phage impact on bacterial biofilms therefore can be crucial toward understanding both phage and bacterial ecology. Here, we take a critical look at the study of bacteriophage interactions with bacterial biofilms as carried out in vitro, since these studies serve as bases of our ecological and therapeutic understanding of phage impacts on biofilms. We suggest that phage-biofilm in vitro experiments often may be improved in terms of both design and interpretation. Specific issues discussed include (a) not distinguishing control of new biofilm growth from removal of existing biofilm, (b) inadequate descriptions of phage titers, (c) artificially small overlying fluid volumes, (d) limited explorations of treatment dosing and duration, (e) only end-point rather than kinetic analyses, (f) importance of distinguishing phage enzymatic from phage bacteriolytic anti-biofilm activities, (g) limitations of biofilm biomass determinations, (h) free-phage interference with viable-count determinations, and (i) importance of experimental conditions. Toward bettering understanding of the ecology of bacteriophage-biofilm interactions, and of phage-mediated biofilm disruption, we discuss here these various issues as well as provide tips toward improving experiments and their reporting.
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spelling pubmed-82343742021-06-27 Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation Abedon, Stephen T. Danis-Wlodarczyk, Katarzyna M. Wozniak, Daniel J. Sullivan, Matthew B. Viruses Opinion Bacteriophages or phages, the viruses of bacteria, are abundant components of most ecosystems, including those where bacteria predominantly occupy biofilm niches. Understanding the phage impact on bacterial biofilms therefore can be crucial toward understanding both phage and bacterial ecology. Here, we take a critical look at the study of bacteriophage interactions with bacterial biofilms as carried out in vitro, since these studies serve as bases of our ecological and therapeutic understanding of phage impacts on biofilms. We suggest that phage-biofilm in vitro experiments often may be improved in terms of both design and interpretation. Specific issues discussed include (a) not distinguishing control of new biofilm growth from removal of existing biofilm, (b) inadequate descriptions of phage titers, (c) artificially small overlying fluid volumes, (d) limited explorations of treatment dosing and duration, (e) only end-point rather than kinetic analyses, (f) importance of distinguishing phage enzymatic from phage bacteriolytic anti-biofilm activities, (g) limitations of biofilm biomass determinations, (h) free-phage interference with viable-count determinations, and (i) importance of experimental conditions. Toward bettering understanding of the ecology of bacteriophage-biofilm interactions, and of phage-mediated biofilm disruption, we discuss here these various issues as well as provide tips toward improving experiments and their reporting. MDPI 2021-06-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8234374/ /pubmed/34205417 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061175 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Opinion
Abedon, Stephen T.
Danis-Wlodarczyk, Katarzyna M.
Wozniak, Daniel J.
Sullivan, Matthew B.
Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title_full Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title_fullStr Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title_full_unstemmed Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title_short Improving Phage-Biofilm In Vitro Experimentation
title_sort improving phage-biofilm in vitro experimentation
topic Opinion
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8234374/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34205417
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061175
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