Common Oral Medications Lead to Prophage Induction in Bacterial Isolates from the Human Gut.

ABSTRACT: Many bacteria carry bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) integrated in their genomes in the form of prophages, which replicate passively alongside their bacterial host. Environmental conditions can lead to prophage induction; the switching from prophage replication to lytic replication, that results in new bacteriophage progeny and the lysis of the bacterial host. Despite their abundance in the gut, little is known about what could be inducing these prophages. We show that several medications, at concentrations predicted in the gut, lead to prophage induction of bacterial isolates from the human gut. We tested five medication classes (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, chemotherapy, mild analgesic, cardiac, and antibiotic) for antimicrobial activity against eight prophage-carrying human gut ba

SUBMITTER: Sutcliffe SG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8000485 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature