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Methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is currently threatening global public health, and a similar issue was encountered in Hainan. For establishing a promising alternative therapeutic option, a phage with the capacity of lysing 18 out of 35 MRSA clinical isolates was recovered from domestic natural sources, which was termed as vB_SauP_L1 due to its morphology and genomic similarity with Rountreeviridae. Satisfactory proliferation rate and environmental tolerance were demonstrated by subsequent infectious properties tests and stability assessments. Sequencing revealed that its genome consisted of a linear double-stranded DNA of 17,114 bp, in which neither virulent nor resistant gene was detected, indicating its potential in MRSA prevention and treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Nowadays finding the new antimicrobials is necessary due to the emerging of multidrug resistant strains. The present study aimed to isolate and characterize bacteriophages against S. aureus. Strains Huma and Simurgh were the two podovirus morphology phages which isolated and then characterized. Huma and Simurgh had a genome size of 16,853 and 17,245 bp, respectively and both were Rosenblumvirus with G + C content of 29%. No lysogeny-related genes, nor virulence genes were identified in their genomes. They were lytic only against two out of four S. aureus strains. They also were able to inhibit S. aureus for 8 h in-vitro. Both showed a rapid adsorption. Huma and Simurgh had the latent period of 80 and 60 m and the burst sizes of 45 and 40 PFU/ml and also, they showed very low cell toxicity of 1.23%-1.79% on HT-29 cells, respectively. Thus, they can be considered potential candidates for biocontrol applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

80α is a temperate, double-stranded DNA bacteriophage of Staphylococcus aureus that can act as a "helper" for the mobilization of S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs), including SaPI1. When SaPI1 is mobilized by 80α, the SaPI genomes are packaged into capsids that are composed of phage proteins, but that are smaller than those normally formed by the phage. This size determination is dependent on SaPI1 proteins CpmA and CpmB. Here, we show that co-expression of the 80α capsid and scaffolding proteins in S. aureus, but not in E. coli, leads to the formation of procapsid-related structures, suggesting that a host co-factor is required for assembly. The capsid and scaffolding proteins also undergo normal N-terminal processing upon expression in S. aureus, implicating a host protease. We also find that SaPI1 proteins CpmA and CpmB promote the formation of small capsids upon co-expression with 80α capsid and scaffolding proteins in S. aureus., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) are mobile elements that are induced by a helper bacteriophage to excise and replicate and to be encapsidated in phage-like particles smaller than those of the helper, leading to high-frequency transfer. SaPI mobilization is helper phage specific; only certain SaPIs can be mobilized by a particular helper phage. Staphylococcal phage 80α can mobilize every SaPI tested thus far, including SaPI1, SaPI2 and SaPIbov1. Phage 80, on the other hand, cannot mobilize SaPI1, and ϕ11 mobilizes only SaPIbov1. In order to better understand the relationship between SaPIs and their helper phages, the genomes of phages 80 and 80α were sequenced, compared with other staphylococcal phage genomes, and analyzed for unique features that may be involved in SaPI mobilization., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Temperate bacteriophages play a critical role in the pathogenicity of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus by mediating positive lysogenic conversion for different virulence factors such as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) or by interrupting chromosomal virulence genes. PVL-encoding phages are integrated in the S. aureus genome within a conserved ORF which is surrounded by a cluster of tandemly repeated genes. Here we demonstrate that in S. aureus clonal complex ST80 strains PVL-phage induction led to the acquisition of host DNA into the phage genome probably due to a homologous recombination event between direct repeats of the two paralogous genes adjacent to the phage integration site. Phage excision was accompanied by an additional chromosomal deletion in this region. This so far unrecognized mechanism of DNA uptake into the phage genome may play an important role in the co-evolution of phages and bacteria., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)