Figure 4.

Characterization of the anti-A. baumannii phage M13_Aba

(A) Schematic representation of the M13 genetic engineering through co-transformation in E. coli of ppK_C20 phagemid and hyperphage genome.

(B–D) (B) Immunoblotting of the antiBAP_Nb-pIII fusion (M13_Aba), demonstrating incorporation in the purified virion. The integrity of purified M13_Aba phages was visualized through (C) TEM (scale bar = 200 nm) and (D) AFM (scale bar = 600 nm).

(E) M13_Aba length distribution analyzed by AFM.

(F) Specificity and selectivity of engineered M13_Aba phages targeting A. baumannii: the binding was determined by SyberGreen real-time PCR using an oligonucleotide that anneals on the pIII minor-coat-protein-coding gene. M13_Aba phages showed significant binding to A. baumannii (cyan), whereas poor binding was observed to S. aureus (orange) and P. aeruginosa (magenta). Data are represented as mean ± SD. ∗∗∗∗ = p < 0.0001.