Data from: Modification of Escherichia coli–bacteriophage interactions by surfactants and antibiotics in vitro

Although experiments indicate that the abiotic environment plays an important role in bacterial interactions with their parasitic viruses (bacteriophages or phages), it is not yet clear how exposure to compounds present in nature alters the impact of phages on bacterial growth and evolution. To address this question, we exposed Escherichia coli K12 MG1655, in combination with three lytic phages, to various substances that natural and clinical microbial populations are likely to encounter: bile salts (present in mammalian gastrointestinal tracts), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, a common surfactant in cleaning and hygiene products) and four antibiotics (present at variable concentrations in natural and clinical environments). Our results show that bile salts and SDS can reduce the detrimental effect of phages on bacterial growth. In some cases these compounds completely mitigated any negative effects of phages on bacterial growth and consequently bacteria did not evolve resistance to phages in these conditions. The proportional effects of phages were unaffected by antibiotics in most combinations, excepting three cases of phage-drug synergy. These results suggest that accounting for interactions between phages and environmental factors such as surfactants and antibiotics will improve understanding of both bacterial growth and resistance evolution to phages in vivo and in nature.尽管实验证实非生物环境在细菌与其寄生病毒——噬菌体（bacteriophages，简称phage）——的相互作用中扮演重要角色，但目前仍未明确自然界中存在的化合物暴露会如何改变噬菌体对细菌生长与演化的影响。为解答这一科学问题，我们将大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）K12 MG1655与三种裂解性噬菌体共同暴露于天然及临床微生物群落大概率接触的多种物质中：存在于哺乳动物胃肠道内的胆盐、清洁与卫生用品中常见的表面活性剂十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS），以及在天然与临床环境中浓度各异的四种抗生素。研究结果显示，胆盐与SDS可削弱噬菌体对细菌生长的不利影响；在部分情境下，此类化合物可完全抵消噬菌体对细菌生长的负面作用，进而使细菌在此类条件下不会演化出对噬菌体的抗性。多数组合中抗生素不会改变噬菌体的比例效应，仅存在三例噬菌体-药物协同作用的例外情况。上述结果表明，若将噬菌体与表面活性剂、抗生素等环境因子间的相互作用纳入考量，将有助于深化我们对体内及自然环境中细菌生长以及细菌对噬菌体抗性演化的认知。