Although products based on natural bacteriophages have been on the market for decades, their adoption rate in the industry is very low, and their game-changing potential has not yet been exploited. Compared with traditional biological control methods, the key factor hindering the wider application of natural bacteriophages is low efficiency, and because the specificity of bacteriophages is narrow, the scalability of mass production is poor. However, synthetic biology provides exciting new tools that can be used to construct engineered phages through various recombination engineering methods and in vitro genome assembly. Engineering phages without natural limitations can form a design-build-test-learn platform to quickly build prototypes of new phages with user-defined characteristics.
One of the most commonly used and well-established methods of phage genome engineering is to carry out homologous recombination in their bacterial hosts, which can occur between two homologous DNA sequences as short as 23 bp.
Another common strategy for phage genome engineering is phage recombination engineering (BRED). BRED can be used to delete, insert and replace genes, and to create point mutations in the phage genome.
In vivo recombination engineering method uses bacteriophage lambda as a tool to engineer other less studied coliphages
Creative Biolabs provides rebuilding or refactoring phage genomes in vitro. Before introducing phage genomes into bacterial hosts, they can be manipulated and edited in vitro.
The complete phage genome can also be assembled from synthetic oligonucleotides in vitro. The synthesized oligonucleotides are gel purified, phosphorylated, annealed, and assembled in vitro by polymerase cycle assembly (PCA).
The spread of phage genome in bacterial hosts may be toxic to the host, which limits the efficiency of phage genome engineering and homologous recombination, BRED, and in vivo recombination engineering. It can be overcome by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae instead of bacteria as an intermediate host for genetic manipulation.
Synthetic biology, genome engineering, viral metagenomics and deep sequencing has provided tools for rapid, evolution-guided and rational design of phages with tailored properties.
Creative Biolabs has established many powerful technology platforms, such as engineering phages platforms. We have in-depth knowledge and experience of the tools and processes involved in the phage projects. Our skilled and dedicated scientific researchers ensure that the most suitable methods and techniques are selected for your project. If necessary, please feel free to contact us.
Please kindly note that our services can only be used to support research purposes (Not for clinical use).
Creative Biolabs is a globally recognized phage company. Creative Biolabs is committed to providing researchers with the most reliable service and the most competitive price.
