Exciting Publication Alert: Unraveling Phage Receptor Secrets in Hypervirulent Klebsiella!

Thrilling news—our latest manuscript, "Deciphering Shared Receptor Usage in Genomically Unrelated Bacteriophages Infecting Hypermucoid Klebsiella pneumoniae K1 ST23," has just been published in FEMS Microbes!​

Key Findings

The study isolates and characterizes three lytic bacteriophages—Spear, Loop, and Shorty—from sewage, all targeting a hypervirulent, hypermucoid K. pneumoniae K1 ST23 strain. Despite genomic and morphological differences (two siphovirus-like, one podovirus-like), they share a narrow host range and rely primarily on capsular polysaccharide (CPS) for infection, as shown by resistance mutants losing mucoidy and adsorption assays. Structural modeling reveals surprising homology in Loop and Shorty's tail spikes, pointing to genetic mosaicism for K1-specific recognition, while Spear shows partial CPS independence.

Why It Matters

These insights highlight how unrelated phages can converge on the same receptor, urging a shift from empirical to receptor-guided phage cocktail design to counter resistance in treating multidrug-resistant Klebsiella infections, a major One Health challenge. The phages' thermal stability and lytic nature make them promising for therapy.​

Read the full open-access paper here: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsmc/xtaf014. Huge congratulations to the authors: Zhanybek Selpiev, Sebastian Leptihn, Mathias Müsken. Celebrating this milestone and eager for the next phage breakthroughs!