Harnessing the diversity of Burkholderia spp. prophages for therapeutic potential

Burkholderia spp. are often resistant to antibiotics, and infections with these organisms are difficult to treat. A potential alternative treatment for Burkholderia spp. infections is bacteriophage (phage) therapy; however, it can be difficult to locate phages that target these bacteria. Prophages incorporated into the bacterial genome have been identified within Burkholderia spp. and may represent a source of useful phages for therapy. Here we investigate whether prophages within Burkholderia spp. clinical isolates can kill conspecific and heterospecific isolates. Thirty-two Burkholderia spp. isolates were induced for prophage release, and harvested prophages were tested for lytic activity against the same 32 isolates. Lytic phages were passaged and their host ranges were determined, resulting in four unique phages of prophage origin that showed different ranges of lytic activity. We also analyzed the prophage content of 35 Burkholderia spp. clinical isolate genomes, and identified several prophages present in the genomes of multiple isolates of the same species. Finally, we observed that B. cenocepacia isolates were more phage-susceptible than Burkholderia multivorans isolates. Overall, our findings suggest that prophages present within Burkholderia spp. genomes are a potentially useful starting point for the isolation and development of novel phages for use in phage therapy.