Hidden virus found common in pneumonia-causing bacteria: Study

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A virus long dismissed as a scientific oddity has been found hiding in plain sight, and it may help fight dangerous bacteria, according to a study.

The study focussed on bacteriophages (phages) -- viruses that infect bacteria and come in many forms. In particular, researchers investigated telomere phages -- a type of phage that until now was considered a ‘curiosity'.

These viruses aren't just passive passengers as they may actually help good bacteria wipe out neighbouring bad ones, Xinhua news agency reported.

Previous studies decoded only their unique DNA replication mechanism. The new study, published in Science Advances, discovered that bacteria carrying telomere phages produce toxins that kill off rival bacteria.

Researchers from Monash University, Australia discovered that telomere phage is surprisingly common in Klebsiella. Klebsiella is a type of bacteria that can cause pneumonia and serious drug-resistant infections.

"For more than 20 years of intensive bacterial genomics, telomere phages had remained hidden in plain sight. We have missed an entire aspect of biology," said Trevor Lithgow, head of Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute Bacterial Cell Biology Lab.

Lithgow stated sequencing a clinical Klebsiella strain led to the finding of a fourth telomere phage.

The analysis revealed that telomere phages are not rare curiosities. Instead, these are highly prevalent throughout the thousands of lineages of Klebsiella, including strains collected from waterway environments, the researcher said.

Further, the discovery of toxins -- ‘telocins' (for telomere-phage toxins) -- was found to enable a bacterial management strategy. While the ‘good' bacteria carrying telomere phages will kill neighbouring ‘bad' Klebsiella, the ‘bad' bacteria would be antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella, Lithgow said.

"We now want to understand how the host secretes the toxin and also understand how the toxin wheedles its way into the unsuspecting bacterial neighbors," said Sally Byers from the Lithgow Laboratory.

The team believes these helpful viruses could exist in many other bacteria, too.

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