A Good Journal for Inquisitive People (46) scfh.ru/en/ 1 1 2017 SCIENCE First Hand PHAGES ATTACK № 1 (46) 2017 100 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF MANKIND VIRUSES AND BACTERIA: THE GREAT CONFRONTATION PHAGEBIOTICS FOR A HEALTHY LIFE BACTERIOPHAGES This is how a filamentous bacteriophage looks like after counterstaining with phosphotungstic acid in the field of vision THE ENEMIES of a Jem 1400 (JEOL, Japan) electron microscope by E. Ryabchikova OF OUR ENEMIES 2017 1. popular science journal IN THIS ISSUE: Bacteriophages “won” the Battle of Stalingrad: they did not let a cholera epidemic spread outside the territory occupied by German troops If all bacteriophages on Earth line up in a single file, it will stretch as far as the nearest galaxy cluster in the constellation Virgo! Biologists learned to edit genomes by spotting how bacteria protect themselves from reinfection with bacteriophages Thanks to filamentous bacteriophages, we will soon have energy-conserving ultrathin displays Using bacteriophages instead of antibiotics will ensure that we eat organic food A Journal “The natural desire for Inquisitive People of good men is knowledge” Dear Friends, Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Leonardo da Vinci This issue of our magazine commemorates the centennial RAS Member Nikolay Dobretsov Periodical Popular Science Journal of the discovery of bacteriophages. Bacteriophages Deputy Editor-in-Chief are minuscule viruses, but their role in science can hardly RAS Member Valery Bukhtiyarov Published since January 2004 be overestimated. Deputy Editor-in-Chief Three issues a year Viruses are known to be the smallest living organisms RAS Member Valentin Vlassov Founders: Siberian Branch of the Russian on Earth; there is even an opinion that calling them “alive” Deputy Editor-in-Chief Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) may be wrong as they have too simple a structure. In fact, RAS Corresponding Member Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics a virus is a genetic program encoded in DNA or RNA strands (SB RAS) Natalia Polosmak packed in a protein shell. Viral genes can work only inside Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Deputy Editor-in-Chief (SB RAS) a living cell of another organism by embedding themselves RAS Member Vasily Shabanov Limnological Institute (SB RAS) into the host genome and forcing the cellular metabolic Executive Secretary Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy machine to produce new copies of viral particles. Like other Lidia Panfilova (SB RAS) viruses, bacteriophages (literally, «eaters of bacteria») Institute of Chemical Biology and are intracellular parasites, but they use bacteria and archaea, RAS Member Igor Bychkov Fundamental Medicine (SB RAS) rather than animals and plants, as their hosts. RAS Member Anatoly Derevyanko Trofimuk Institute of Oil and gas Geology and Geophysics (SB RAS) In recent years, we have learned that bacteriophages RAS Member Mikhail Epov Limited company INFOLIO play a huge role in the biosphere: controlling the amount RAS Corresponding Member Publisher: Limited company INFOLIO of microbial flora, they are a major factor hindering Mikhail Fedoruk Address: its unrestrained growth. No wonder that the quantity RAS Member Mikhail Grachev 11, Zolotodolinskaya Street, Novosibirsk of bacteriophages is enormous: their total biomass may However, the ingenious idea to fight bacteria with a living RAS Corresponding Member 630090, Russia be as high as 109 tons whereas the total mass of all living biological weapon has outlived its creators. For many years, Aleksandr Latyshev Tel. +7 (383) 330 37 33, 330 27 22 organisms is only an estimated 2–3 orders of magnitude the USSR had been the world center of bacteriophage Fax: +7 (383) 330 26 67 Cand. Sc. Nikolay Nikulin higher. Bacteriophages are not just the most common form research, and phage therapy passed its first major test during RAS Member Valentin Parmon e-mail: [email protected] of life on Earth: being an integral part of trophic cycles, they World War II. Suffice it to say that the cholera bacteriophage RAS Member Nikolay Pokhilenko [email protected] actively participate in the global cycle of matter and energy. was one the fighters in the famous Battle of Stalingrad. Since bacteriophages can target specific strains of bacteria, Produced directly in the besieged city of Stalingrad, this [email protected] Editorial Council mankind has used them, albeit with varying success, virus helped localize a cholera epidemic that broke out on the The Journal is registered as a very accurate and safe weapon against bacterial RAS Member Lyubomir Aftanas territory occupied by German troops. at the Federal Supervision Agency infections in humans and animals almost since the time RAS Member Boris Bazarov for Information Technologies and The subsequent history of phage therapy is an excellent they were discovered in the early twentieth century. illustration of the philosophical thesis that any development RAS Corresponding Member Communications The very history of this discovery reads like a fascinating follows a spiral path. In the 1980s, it became clear that the Evgeny Berezhko Certificate El No. FS77-37579 of September 25, 2009 novel, the main characters being two dramatic and tragic effectiveness of antibiotic treatment decreased dramatically RAS Member Vladimir Boldyrev personalities—a brilliant self-educated Frenchman Félix due to the increasing drug resistance to antibiotics. Scientists RAS Member Andrey Degermendzhi ISSN 2310-3000 Date of publication 20 May 2017 d’Hérelle and his closest associate and friend, a Georgian and physicians around the world turned their eyes, once Dr. Sc. Aleksandr Elert microbiologist George Eliava. again, to bacteriophages. After all, the unique advantage Open price RAS Corresponding Member The time when they lived and worked was an era of wars of phage drugs over antibiotics is their targeted action against Anatoly Fedotov Editorial Staff All rights reserved. Reproduction in part and revolutions, which shattered the very foundations or whole is allowed only with written a specific bacterial strain or species without damaging Dr. Sc. Mikhail Fokin A. Kharkevich authorization of the Editorial Office of society, but these two men were not of the kind to hide the normal microflora of the organism, which is why they Dr. Sc. Anatoly Kharitonov Cand. Sc. L. Ovchinnikova © Siberian Branch RAS, 2017 from reality in the ivory tower. Félix d’Hérelle, the discoverer can be used safely for prevention, as well as treatment, RAS Member Nikolay Kolchanov L. Panfilova of bacteriophages, who spent, at the age of seventy, of infections. © INFOLIO Publishing House, 2017 RAS Member Alexei Kontorovich Cand. Sc. M. Perepechaeva several years under house arrest for refusing to help the A. Mistrukov Of course, no one today argues categorically that, Professor Egon Krause (Germany) © Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor German invaders, had to witness at the end of his life how E. Sycheva Physics (SB RAS) 2017 at the present stage in the development of science, RAS Member Gennadii Kulipanov A. Vladimirova his beloved child was losing ground to the increasing spread bacteriophages can completely replace other antibacterial Dr. Sc. Semen Kutateladze © Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (SB RAS) 2017 of antibiotics. George Eliava, who declined an invitation preparations in medicine and agriculture, but all the articles RAS Member Mikhail Kuzmin Translated of the famous Pasteur Institute in Paris with the words in this issue clearly show that bacteriophages can into English by © Limnological Institute (SB RAS) 2017 Professor Janusz Lipkowski (Poland) “I’m needed in Georgia” and founded the world’s first and be for mankind not only a neighbor with whom we share one I. Adrianova RAS Member Nikolay Lyakhov © Sobolev Institute of Geology and only bacteriophage research center in Tbilisi, was shot in his A. Kobkova Mineralogy (SB RAS) 2017 biosphere but also a strong and loyal ally. RAS Member Vyacheslav Molodin home country as an “enemy of the people.” N. Tumanova © Institute of Chemical Biology and Dr. Sc. Mikhail Moshkin G. Chirikova Fundamental Medicine (SB RAS) 2017 RAS Corresponding Member © Trofimuk Institute of Oil and gas Geology Academician Nikolay L. Dobretsov, Sergei Netesov The drawings on the cover and Geophysics (SB RAS) 2017 Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sc. Aleksandr Petrov and inside RAS Member Anatoly Shalagin the journal RAS Member Vladimir Shumny are by Zhenya Professor Valery Soyfer (USA) Vlassov scfh.ru/en/ LIFE SCIENCES 50 A. A. Shiryaeva, A. V. Strotskaya, K. V. Severinov .01 6 V. V. Vlassov Viruses and bacteria: Bacteriophages – The great confrontation the enemies of our enemies 58 V. V. Vlassov, V. V. Morozova, TRANSPLANTING healthy fecal microflora 8 Under the sign of bacteriophage: Using BACTERIOPHAGES to combat PLANT N. V. Tikunova with a set of “GOOD” BACTERIA and “PROPER” Paris – Tbilisi DISEASES at greenhouse farms will allow farmers BACTERIOPHAGES into the intestine of a patient to grow large CROPS of ORGANIC vegetables The truth about phage therapy 22 T. V. Prisada, M. G. Efimova, or a memo to physicians and patients ensures an almost instantaneous treatment A. N. Dabizheva, N. N. Voroshilova and greens. P. 74 of DYSBACTERIOSIS. P. 58 Phages Attack. 66 A. Sulakvelidze Phagebiotics for a healthy life A history of bacteriophage production and therapeutic use in Russia 74 K. A. Miroshnikov Phages in your garden. 32 E. I. Ryabchikova, A. Yu. Yunusova Lythic PHAGES target PATHOGENIC bacteria, Phage drugs may be a good ALTERNATIVE