New Zealand tool to mutate phages advances fight against superbugs

Researchers in New Zealand have developed a new tool to mutate bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, marking a significant advance in understanding phage biology and harnessing their potential to combat antimicrobial resistance. The method, developed at the University of Otago and featured on the cover of Nature Microbiology, uses CRISPR-Cas technology combined with transposon insertion sequencing to identify essential and non-essential genes, while also enabling the addition of new genes to phage genomes. This systematic and cost-effective approach could improve phage therapeutic potential, such as engineering phages to overcome bacterial defences in hard-to-treat biofilm infections on medical devices, offering new opportunities for healthcare and sustainable agriculture.