The present invention relates to bacteriophage therapy. More particularly, the present invention relates to novel bacteriophages having a high specificity against Staphylococcus aureus strains, their manufacture, components thereof, compositions comprising the same and the uses thereof in phage therapy and as companion diagnostic.

The present invention relates to Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-4 (accession number: KCTC 13166BP) isolated from nature, the Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-4 having the capability to specifically kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa and having a genome represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and a method for preventing or treating diseases induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa by using a composition containing the Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-4 as an active ingredient.

Disclosed herein is an engineered bacteriophage comprising an indicator gene, wherein said indicator gene is an RNA aptamer or a green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP-like protein, and further wherein said indicator gene can indicate the presence of a microorganism, such as a bacterial infection. The engineered bacteriophage can be capable of infecting and killing the microorganism. The engineered microorganism can be in a composition for delivery to a subject, and can be in hyaluronic acid, for example. Also disclosed are methods of using the engineered bacteriophage to diagnose and/or treat a subject with a bacterial infection.

The presence of microorganisms in or on food can lead to, for example, disease, damage (loss of food), a shortening of shelf life, premature ripening, reduced yield, spoilage and/or rotting. Microbial contamination of food also represents a potential health risk, increasing the likelihood of food poisoning and the like. This disclosure provides methods, uses and compositions which may be exploited as a means to reduce or eliminate the presence of microorganisms on or in food and in turn, the various problems associated therewith. Provided is a method of decontaminating food or a food growing medium, substrate or compost of one or more microorganisms, said method comprising contacting the food and/or the food growing medium, substrate or compost with one or more phage.

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.

Methods and compositions are provided for preventing or reducing symptoms or disease associated with Xylella fastidiosa or Xanthomonas axonopodis in a plant. The invention provides novel bacteriophages virulent to Xylella fastidiosa or Xanthomonas axonopodis, including XfaMija and XfaMijo, and further provides methods for treating or preventing Pierce's Disease or Citrus Canker in plants.

Provided are polypeptides that have at least about 95% but less than 100% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, optionally wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, with the proviso that the polypeptide does not have 100% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2. Also provided are polypeptides that include an amino acid sequence that is a variant of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the variant sequence has at least one substitution at an amino acid position selected from the group consisting of D287, D291, D311, N313, D315, L307, and N284 of SEQ ID NO: 2; optionally wherein the polypeptide inhibits growth of a microbe and/or microbial biofilm and/or disrupts a microbial biofilm; nucleic acid molecules encoding the disclosed polypeptides; vectors and recombinant host cells that include the disclosed nucleic acid molecules; antimicrobial compositions that include an effective amount of the disclosed polypeptides, optionally that also include a carrier and/or one or more additional active agents; and methods for inhibiting the growth of microbes and/or microbial biofilms on surfaces and/or for disrupting microbial biofilms on surfaces and methods for inhibiting the growth of microbes on and/or in agricultural products and/or subjects.

Methods and compositions are provided for preventing or reducing symptoms or disease associated with Xylella fastidiosa or Xanthomonas axonopodis in a plant. The invention provides novel bacteriophages virulent to Xylella fastidiosa or Xanthomonas axonopodis, including XfaMija and XfaMijo, and further provides methods for treating or preventing Pierce's Disease or Citrus Canker in plants.

The present invention relates to Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-3 (accession number: KCTC 13165BP) isolated from nature, the Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-3 having the capability to specifically kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa and having a genome represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and a method for preventing or treating diseases induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa by using a composition containing the Podoviridae bacteriophage Pse-AEP-3 as an active ingredient.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms such as Listeria spp. in a sample. A genetically modified bacteriophage is also disclosed which comprises an indicator gene in the late gene region. The specificity of the bacteriophage, such as Listeria-specific bacteriophage, allows detection of a specific microorganism, such as Listeria spp. and an indicator signal may be amplified to optimize assay sensitivity.