Induction and Purification of C. difficile Phage Tail-Like Particles

What is it about?

Due to the inherent limitations of conventional antibiotics for the treatment of C. difficile infection (CDI), there is a growing interest in the development of alternative treatment strategies. Both bacteriophages and R-type bacteriocins, also known as phage tail-like particles (PTLPs), show promise as potential antibacterial alternatives for treating CDI. Similar to bacteriophages, but lacking a viral capsid and genome, PTLPs remain capable of killing target bacteria. Here we describe our experience in the induction and purification of C. difficile PTLPs.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Purification methods were optimized to allow production of concentrated, non-contractile, and non-aggregated samples for both bacterial sensitivity testing and structural cryo-electron microscopy studies.