Tipo di tesi
Tesi di laurea magistrale
Titolo
From genome to phenotype: exploring the impact of filamentous Pf phages on the lytic phage susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from cystic fibrosis patients
Corso di studi
BIOTECHNOLOGIES AND APPLIED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR HEALTH
Parole chiave
- Cystic fibrosis
- Efficiency of plating (EOP)
- Filamentous phages
- Lytic phage susceptibility
- Prophage detection pipeline
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Data inizio appello
08/06/2026
Consultabilità
Non consultabile
Data di rilascio
08/06/2096
Riassunto (Inglese)
seudomonas aeruginosa is a highly adaptable pathogen and a leading cause of chronic infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Given the rising multidrug resistance, lytic phage therapy has re-emerged as a promising precision-medicine strategy. However, the bacterial defense system and resident prophages may hinder therapeutic efficacy. Filamentous phages inoviruses, Pf phages in particular, integrate into the P. aeruginosa chromosome. This study evaluated whether Pf prophage carriage in 26 P. aeruginosa clinical isolates from CF patients correlates with resistance against twelve lytic phages. Susceptibility profiles were quantified via Efficiency of Plating (EOP) assays and bacterial genomes were analyzed using a customized bioinformatic pipeline. EOP results revealed a heterogeneous distribution of susceptibility across the 12 lytic phages, with 92% of the isolates being sensitive to at least one. Genomic analysis results showed a marked genomic homogeneity, with a prevalence of Pf1-like sequences in the strains collection. Statistical analysis (Fisher’s Exact Test) indicated that the presence of the Pf1 prophage does not significantly correlate with resistance in planktonic conditions. These results suggested that phage resistance in P. aeruginosa is a multifactorial trait within a complex genomic mosaic, not solely dependent on Pf1 carriage.
