Susanne Meile, Jiemin Du, Samuel Staubli, Sebastian Grossmann, Hendrik Koliwer-Brandl, Pietro Piffaretti, Lorenz Leitner, Cassandra I Matter, Jasmin Baggenstos, Laura Hunold, Sonja Milek, Christian Guebeli, Marko Kozomara-Hocke, Vera Neumeier, Angela Botteon, Jochen Klumpp, Jonas Marschall, Shawna McCallin, Reinhard Zbinden, Thomas M Kessler, Martin J Loessner, Matthew Dunne, Samuel Kilcher
The rapid detection and species-level differentiation of bacterial pathogens facilitates antibiotic stewardship and improves disease management. Here, we develop a rapid bacteriophage-based diagnostic assay to detect the most prevalent pathogens causing urinary tract infections: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., and Klebsiella spp. For each uropathogen, two virulent phages were genetically engineered to express a nanoluciferase reporter gene upon host infection. Using 206 patient urine samples, reporter phage-induced bioluminescence was quantified to identify bacteriuria and the assay was benchmarked against conventional urinalysis...
July 20, 2023: Nature Communications