Bacteriophages in.docVIP

Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 2013, 4, 469-476 ABB /10.4236/abb.2013.43A062 Published Online March 2013 (/journal/abb/) Bacteriophages in Escherichia coli antimicrobial resistance Archana Iyer 1,2 , Elie Barbour 3 , Esam Azhar 4,5 , Ishtiaq Qadri 2 , Adeel Chaudhary 2,5 , Adel Abuzenadah Afif M. Abdel Nour , Steve Harakeh 2,5 , Taha Kumosani , Ghazi Damanhouri 4 4* 1,2 2 , Suhad Bahijri , Ahmed Al-Hejin , 2 2 1 2 3 4 Department of Biochemistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon Special Infectious Agents Unit—Biosafety Level 3, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA 5 Medical Laboratory Technology Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Ab- dulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA Email: sharakeh@ * Received 3 January 2013; revised 15 February 2013; accepted 28 February 2013 ABSTRACT most feared bacterial pathogens [1]. Bacteriophages act as facilitators of two types of horizontal genetic ex- change. Generalized transduction is a process by which any gene within a donor is transferred to a recipient strain by a lytic or temperate bacteriophage. The recipi- ent DNA can either get degraded or integrated within the host genome. Specialized transduction is a more efficient process that specifically involves transition from pro- phage to lytic cycle [2]. Many bacteriophages incorpo- rate their genome into a specific point in the host genome and upon induction the integrated prophage usually ex- cises itself precisely as a whole unit. Sometimes, how- ever, this excision is imprecise and part of the host ge- nome becomes excised also, facilitating the tran