Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages

There is a lack of methodological investigation of the in situ functions of bacterial species in microecosystems. Here, we used native phages as a microbial editing tool for eliminating Escherichia coli strain MG1655 labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the mouse gut. The virulent phages...

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Main Authors: Li, Ping, Li, Zhuoya, Jia, Pei, Chen, Jingchao, Li, Yi, Liu, Guosheng, Wang, Hailei
Other Authors: Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169627
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1696272023-07-26T15:35:27Z Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages Li, Ping Li, Zhuoya Jia, Pei Chen, Jingchao Li, Yi Liu, Guosheng Wang, Hailei Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Center Science::Biological sciences Microbial Editing Gut Microbiome There is a lack of methodological investigation of the in situ functions of bacterial species in microecosystems. Here, we used native phages as a microbial editing tool for eliminating Escherichia coli strain MG1655 labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the mouse gut. The virulent phages (W1 and W3) possessed host specificity at both the genus and species levels, resulting in an 8.8-log10 difference in the titer of viable bacteria after 12 h of phage treatment compared with that in the phage-free control in an in vitro test. In vivo, they reduced strain MG1655 colonizing the mouse gut at concentrations of 106 to 108 CFU g-1 to a 102 CFU g-1 level, which is almost undetectable by the plate colony-counting method. Moreover, the impact of phage treatment on the microbial community structure of the mouse gut was not significant (P > 0.05), indicating that native phages can effectively edit a target bacterium, with limited perturbation of microbial diversity and relative abundance. Therefore, we developed an engineering technique for investigation of the functions of a specific bacterium by depleting its abundance in microecosystems. IMPORTANCE This report describes a gut engineering technique for investigation of the functions of a specific bacterium. Native phages with host specificity can knock down the corresponding E. coli strain in the mouse gut with limited perturbation of microbial diversity and relative abundance, indicating that they, as a microbial editing tool, can effectively edit the abundance of a target bacterium. Such an approach is undoubtedly of interest in the context of lack of knowledge of how to methodologically study the in situ function of a specific species in a complex microecosystem. Published version This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number U160411067). 2023-07-26T08:40:25Z 2023-07-26T08:40:25Z 2022 Journal Article Li, P., Li, Z., Jia, P., Chen, J., Li, Y., Liu, G. & Wang, H. (2022). Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(6), e0180422-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01804-22 2165-0497 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169627 10.1128/spectrum.01804-22 36301104 2-s2.0-85144638318 6 10 e0180422 en Microbiology Spectrum © 2022 Ping et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Biological sciences
Microbial Editing
Gut Microbiome
spellingShingle Science::Biological sciences
Microbial Editing
Gut Microbiome
Li, Ping
Li, Zhuoya
Jia, Pei
Chen, Jingchao
Li, Yi
Liu, Guosheng
Wang, Hailei
Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
description There is a lack of methodological investigation of the in situ functions of bacterial species in microecosystems. Here, we used native phages as a microbial editing tool for eliminating Escherichia coli strain MG1655 labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the mouse gut. The virulent phages (W1 and W3) possessed host specificity at both the genus and species levels, resulting in an 8.8-log10 difference in the titer of viable bacteria after 12 h of phage treatment compared with that in the phage-free control in an in vitro test. In vivo, they reduced strain MG1655 colonizing the mouse gut at concentrations of 106 to 108 CFU g-1 to a 102 CFU g-1 level, which is almost undetectable by the plate colony-counting method. Moreover, the impact of phage treatment on the microbial community structure of the mouse gut was not significant (P > 0.05), indicating that native phages can effectively edit a target bacterium, with limited perturbation of microbial diversity and relative abundance. Therefore, we developed an engineering technique for investigation of the functions of a specific bacterium by depleting its abundance in microecosystems. IMPORTANCE This report describes a gut engineering technique for investigation of the functions of a specific bacterium. Native phages with host specificity can knock down the corresponding E. coli strain in the mouse gut with limited perturbation of microbial diversity and relative abundance, indicating that they, as a microbial editing tool, can effectively edit the abundance of a target bacterium. Such an approach is undoubtedly of interest in the context of lack of knowledge of how to methodologically study the in situ function of a specific species in a complex microecosystem.
author2 Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute
author_facet Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute
Li, Ping
Li, Zhuoya
Jia, Pei
Chen, Jingchao
Li, Yi
Liu, Guosheng
Wang, Hailei
format Article
author Li, Ping
Li, Zhuoya
Jia, Pei
Chen, Jingchao
Li, Yi
Liu, Guosheng
Wang, Hailei
author_sort Li, Ping
title Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
title_short Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
title_full Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
title_fullStr Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
title_full_unstemmed Editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
title_sort editing of a specific strain of escherichia coli in the mouse gut using native phages
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169627
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