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Wottrich et al. Microbiome Res Rep 2024;3:27 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/mrr.2023.42 Page 15 of 17

Our work, along with previous research, demonstrates that there are likely multiple evolved mechanisms
governing C. acnes resistance to phage infection, including the CRISPR-Cas system, restriction-
modification systems, and SIE mechanisms [11,59,60,62,63] . An understanding of the mechanism(s) by which this
resistance may be produced in bacteria that were previously capable of being lysed by phage may give rise to
the exploitation of the phenomenon in the fine-tuning of phage-based therapeutics. Likewise, this approach
would give rise to a more thorough understanding of infection in the context of the evolutionary life cycles
that the phage can undergo to promote its propagation and the success of its survival.

DECLARATIONS
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the programmatic support for the present publication, which includes: the SEA-
PHAGES program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Microbiology, Immunology,
and Molecular Genetics department at UCLA, the UCLA Dermatology department, and the UCLA Dean of
the Life Sciences. The authors acknowledge the support of Daniel Russel from the University of Pittsburg
for his contributions regarding assembly and quality control. The authors also acknowledge the assistance of
Dr. Kris Reddi from UCLA, as well as the intellectual assistance of Rocky Ng, Andrew Lund, Kindra Kelly-
Scumpia, and Dr. Francie Mercer for their contributions to the study and assistance with quality control.

Authors’ contributions
Conceived and designed the project idea and experiments: Wottrich S, Parker JM
Performed the early phage characterization experiments (restriction enzyme digest, electron microscopy,
etc.): Wottrich S, Mendonca S, Safarpour C, Nguyen C
Performed the superinfection and pseudolysogeny-related experiments (patch tests, qPCR, etc.): Wottrich S
Analyzed the data and conducted bioinformatics analyses: Wottrich S, Parker JM
Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: Marinelli LJ, Modlin RL, Parker JM
Wrote the paper: Wottrich S
Contributing edits and revisions: Parker JM
Preparing materials and methods section of the paper, as well as proofreading: Wottrich S, Safarpour C,
Nguyen C
Performed bioinformatic and structure prediction analyses and contributed to the writing of the
manuscript: Hancock SP

Availability of data and materials
The full annotated genome of phage Aquarius may be found at https://phagesdb.org/phages/Aquarius/.

Financial support and sponsorship
None.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.