Development of applied microbiology to modern biotechnology in Japan

Isolation and Characterization of a Lytic Staphylococcus aureus Phage WV against Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm

BACKGROUND

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive, pathogenic bacterium that causes a wide range of symptoms in humans and can form biofilm, which is a multicellular community of microorganisms that attaches to nonbiological and biological surfaces.

METHODS

Here, we aimed to isolate and characterize an S. aureus phage and examine the bactericidal activity alone and in conjunction with streptomycin treatment.

RESULTS

We isolated a virulent phage, WV, from a slaughterhouse in Jiangsu, China. This strain belonged to the family Myoviridae and presented a genome size of 141,342 bp. The optimal pH of the preservation buffer was 6-7, optimal growth temperature was 37°C, and optimal multiplicity of infection was 0.01. Phage WV can sterilize most clinical strains of S. aureus that had been isolated from clinical patients in the First People's Hospital of the Yunnan Province. Against low-concentration S. aureus culture, streptomycin demonstrated a greater antibiofilm effect than that of phage WV. By contrast, in high-concentration S. aureus culture, phage WV demonstrated greater antibiofilm effect than that of streptomycin. The use of phage WV and streptomycin together had a substantially greater overall antibiofilm effect than that achieved using either component alone.

CONCLUSION

This study provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of phage application for the reduction of S. aureus biofilm growth and suggests that phages can be considered as a viable alternative to antibiotics in clinical settings.

Biotechnology in Switzerland and a glance at Germany

The roots of biotechnology go back to classic fermentation processes, which starting from spontaneous reactions were developed by simple means. The discovery of antibiotics made contamination-free bioprocess engineering indispensable, which led to a further step in technology development. On-line analytics and the use of computers were the basis of automation and the increase in quality. On both sides of the Atlantic, molecular biology emerged at the same time, which gave genetic engineering in medicine, agriculture, industry and environment new opportunities. The story of this new advanced technology in Switzerland, with a quick glance at Germany, is followed back to the post-war years. The growth of research and teaching and the foundation of the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) are dealt with. The promising phase of the 1960s and 1970s soon had to give way to a restrictive policy of insecurity and anxiousness, which, today, manifests itself in the rather insignificant contributions of many European countries to the new sciences of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, as well as in the resistance to the use of transgenic agricultural crops and their products in foods.