Page 128 - Read Online

Wottrich et al. Microbiome Res Rep 2024;3:27 Microbiome Research
DOI: 10.20517/mrr.2023.42
Reports

Original Article Open Access

Putative pseudolysogeny-dependent phage gene
implicated in the superinfection resistance of

Cutibacterium acnes

1
1
1
3
Stephanie Wottrich 1,2 , Stacee Mendonca , Cameron Safarpour , Christine Nguyen , Laura J. Marinelli ,
3
4
Stephen P. Hancock , Robert L. Modlin , Jordan Moberg Parker 1,5
1
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
90024, USA.
2
Department of Neurology, Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78701, USA.
3
UCLA Dermatology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
4
Department of Chemistry, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA.
5
Department of Biomedical Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Stephanie Wottrich, Department of Neurology, Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at
Austin, 1500 Red River St., Austin, TX 78701, USA. E-mail: stephanie.wottrich@ascension.org
How to cite this article: Wottrich S, Mendonca S, Safarpour C, Nguyen C, Marinelli LJ, Hancock SP, Modlin RL, Parker JM.
Putative pseudolysogeny-dependent phage gene implicated in the superinfection resistance of Cutibacterium acnes. Microbiome
Res Rep 2024;3:27. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/mrr.2023.42
Received: 6 Jul 2023 First Decision: 1 Nov 2023 Revised: 29 Mar 2024 Accepted: 7 Apr 2024 Published: 18 Apr 2024
Academic Editor: Douwe van Sinderen Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
Objectives: Cutibacterium acnes, formerly Propionibacterium acnes, is a bacterial species characterized by tenacious
acne-contributing pathogenic strains. Therefore, bacteriophage therapy has become an attractive treatment route
to circumvent issues such as evolved bacterial antibiotic resistance. However, medical and commercial use of
phage therapy for C. acnes has been elusive, necessitating ongoing exploration of phage characteristics that confer
bactericidal capacity.

Methods: A novel phage (Aquarius) was isolated and analyzed. Testing included genomic sequencing and
annotation, electron microscopy, patch testing, reinfection assays, and qPCR to confirm pseudolysogeny and
putative superinfection exclusion (SIE) protein expression.

Results: Given a superinfection-resistant phenotype was observed, reinfection assays and patch tests were
performed, which confirmed the re-cultured bacteria were resistant to superinfection. Subsequent qPCR indicated

© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

www.oaepublish.com/mrr