Methods for determining bacterial identity and susceptibility or resistance to antibiotic or antimicrobial agents are provided. In one embodiment, the bacteria is cultured in the presence or absence or the antibiotic agent to generate a plurality of primary cultures, which are then cultured in the presence or absence of transforming phages to generate a first secondary culture that comprise transformed bacteria that have been treated with the antibiotic agent and a second secondary culture that comprises transformed bacteria that have not been treated with the antibiotic agent. The recombinant phages are specific to the bacteria and comprise a heterologous marker. The susceptibility or resistance of the bacteria to the antibiotic or antimicrobial agent is determined by comparing a level or activity of the marker in the first and second secondary cultures.

A visual continuous spatial directed evolution method is disclosed. The host grows and moves in a solid culture space, the host carrying a foreign target gene to be evolved and containing a gene element that assists the evolution of the target gene, the target gene being correlated with the growth and movement of the host. Depending on different spatial distribution patterns formed in the solid culture space during the growth and movement of the host, screening is performed to obtain an evolved product. This method is carried out directly in the solid culture space. Depending on images of different spatial distribution morphologies visible to the naked eye that are locally formed, selection of evolved products is performed without the need for liquid fed-batch culture equipment. In addition, the evolution effect is visually observed through the infection spots formed during evolution, so that no real-time monitoring equipment is required.

The invention relates to a bactericide composition based on bacteriophages for the control of black plague in plants or parts thereof, preferably walnuts, a preparation method and application. The invention provides methods for the isolation, propagation and application of bacteriophages against phytopathogens affecting trees/plants that are of commercial interest for their fruit, flowers etc., for the prevention, treatment or reduction of signs, in particular, for Xanthomonas A. pv juglandis in walnuts.

Disclosed herein are compositions, methods, kits and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms using a reproduction-deficient indicator bacteriophage. The specificity of such reproduction-deficient indicator bacteriophage for binding and infecting particular microorganisms of interest allows targeted and sensitive detection of a microorganism of interest.

A method of recovering viable phage from, for example, a crude phage preparation such as a lysate resulting from amplification of phage in bacterial cell culture is disclosed. The method may be “universal”; that is, applicable to the purification of a broad range of phage species and strains. The phage product resulting from the method may have an acceptably low endotoxin titer (e.g. less than 500 EU/ml) and sufficiently high phage titer (e.g. >1×10.sup.9 PFU/ml) for use in therapeutic applications.

The invention relates to the field of microbiology, specifically to a bacteriophage or a combination of bacteriophages, to a composition comprising said bacteriophage or comprising said combination of bacteriophages for preventing, treating or controlling contamination with and/or growth of Listeria, including Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria serovar (SV) 1/2 mutants that are resistant to bacteriophage P100 and/or Listeria serovar 3. The invention further relates to the a method for controlling contamination with Listeria, including Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria serovar (SV) 1/2 mutants that are resistant to bacteriophage P100 and/or Listeria serovar 3, in a food product, on food processing equipment, or on food storage containers by applying the bacteriophage or the combination of bacteriophages, to the composition comprising said bacteriophage or said combination of bacteriophages to a food product or food processing equipment to reduce the amount of Listeria.

The present disclosure provides compositions including recombinant K1E bacteriophages, methods for making the same, and uses thereof. The recombinant K1E bacteriophages disclosed herein are useful for the identification and/or antibiotic susceptibility profiling of specific bacterial strains/species present in a sample.

A reporter mycobacteriophage comprising a heterologous nucleic acid comprising a promoter-reporter construct encoding a promotor operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a fusion protein, wherein the fusion protein comprises a luciferase protein linked to a fluorescent protein. Methods of utilizing the reporter mycobacteriophage in detection of a viable target microbe in a sample, screening a test substance for treatment of tuberculosis, and detecting a drug-resistant Mycobacterium in a subject are provided.

Disclosed herein are compositions, methods, kits and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms using a reproduction-deficient indicator bacteriophage. The specificity of such reproduction-deficient indicator bacteriophage for binding and infecting particular microorganisms of interest allows targeted and sensitive detection of a microorganism of interest.

The present invention relates to chimeric bacteriophage lysins which can be used to sanitize surfaces, for the treatment of bacterial infections and/or for the selective treatment of body odor-causing bacteria. The invention also includes synergistic combinations, methods of treatment and isolated polynucleotides which encode the chimeric lysins.