Bacteriophage KL is a highly lytic virus infecting Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC BAA-2146. This emerging pathogen carrys the broad antibiotic resistance gene New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1 (NDM-1) and is resistant to most antibiotic therapies. Upon challenging variety of Klebsiella Pneumonia serotypes, KL was found to be polyvalent for the antibiotic sensitive strain Klebsiella Pneumonia ATCC® 13883, albeit with an initial infection efficiency of 18% as determined by one-step growth curve analysis. However, after several cycles of infection in the K. Pneumoniae antibiotic sensitive strain, a 100% infection efficiency is achieved. This is due to a mutation that arises in the tail-spike protein (analogous to the phage lambda receptor binding protein J) that alters the last 10 amino-acids the protein complex, fusing it in frame with a downstream tail-fiber protein. This mutation is revertible upon re-infection of the NDM-1 positive strain. The switching of host serotype specificities in this way is unusual, and other examples of polyvalency regarding infectors of this NDM-1 strain have thus far not been observed. Given that study and genetic manipulations of phage KL in the NDM-1 host strain is infeasible due to the inability to employ necessary selective markers, a suitable antibiotic sensitive host for such experiments is necessary.

Adaptive polyvalency in Klebsiella pneumonia NDM-1+ bacteriophage KL

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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