In their report published in Nature Microbiology, Laurent Kremer’s team demonstrates that trehalose polyphleates (TPP) exposed on the surface of some species of mycobacteria (Mycobacterium abscessus and Mycobacterium smegmatis) are required for infection by the clinically useful phages BPs and Muddy.
Therapeutically useful mycobacteriophages BPs and Muddy require trehalose polyphleates. Wetzel KS, Illouz M, Abad L, Aull HG, Russell DA, Garlena RA, Cristinziano M, Malmsheimer S, Chalut C, Hatfull GF, Kremer L. Nat Microbiol. 2023 Sep;8(9):1717-1731. doi: 10.1038/s41564-023-01451-6. Epub 2023 Aug 24. PMID: 37644325; PMCID: PMC10465359.
