540 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE
consistent with other Siphoviral members.41,42 For the S. aureus targeted phages (Figure
2B), two appeared as members of the family Myoviridae, and a third resembled the family
Podoviridae. Structurally, the Myoviridae appear similar to the classic lunar lander modules
with an icosahedral head attached to a long contractile tail with extended leg fibers, and
in contrast, the Podoviridae exhibit a very short, noncontractile tail and shortened legs
affixed to an icosahedral head.24 As with the earlier mentioned Siphoviridae, these two
virus families include members that have a demonstrated capacity to execute a lytic cycle
upon S. aureus. The obtained gene sequences corroborated these TEM structural findings
(data not shown).
TRIPLE COCKTAIL OF PHAGES TARGETED TO C. ACNES DIMINISH BOTH
PLANKTONIC CULTURES AND BIOFILMS
The isolated three Siphoviral phages were examined for their capacity to follow a rapid lytic
cycle and consequently diminish planktonic C. acnes laboratory cultures individually (data
not shown) and when combined into a triple cocktail (Figure 3). The planktonic evaluations
were conducted using qualitative visual assessments (Figure 3, left panel), where the relative
translucency of untreated and phage-treated C. acnes cultures were visually examined
against a lined paper background. As shown in Figure 3, bacterial growth media alone was
sufficiently translucent to see the lines in the background (left panel, inset A), while 2-day
old cultures of C. acnes exhibited such turbidity that the lines were obscured (left panel,
inset B). The translucency was restored following incubation with the phage triple cocktail
for 24 hours (left panel, inset C), which was comparable to the media alone as shown side-
by-side (left panel, inset D). Quantitative optical density measurements were achieved by
measuring the light absorbance of the different cultures using a spectrophotometer at 600
nanometers (Figure 3, right panel). This analysis demonstrated that the phage cocktail
reduced the turbidity of the C. acnes culture by approximately 75%.
C. acnes have also been shown to organize into stratified biofilms, potentially augmenting
their virulence and complicating countermeasures against them.7,47–50 It has been observed
that some phage-based interventions surpass traditional antibiotics in reducing bacterial
biofilms.51–53 As such, the combined solution of three different C. acnes targeted phages was
SKIN CARE TARGET #1:
Cug415bacterium acnes
Siphoviridae
SKIN CARE TARGET #2:
Staphylococcus aureus
Podoviridae Myoviridae
A B
Figure 2. TEM images of phages obtained from phage hunts. A) TEM image of phage structures belonging
to the Siphoviridae family that target C. acnes. B) TEM images of phage structures belonging to either the
Podoviridae (left) and Myoviridae (right) family that target S. aureus.
consistent with other Siphoviral members.41,42 For the S. aureus targeted phages (Figure
2B), two appeared as members of the family Myoviridae, and a third resembled the family
Podoviridae. Structurally, the Myoviridae appear similar to the classic lunar lander modules
with an icosahedral head attached to a long contractile tail with extended leg fibers, and
in contrast, the Podoviridae exhibit a very short, noncontractile tail and shortened legs
affixed to an icosahedral head.24 As with the earlier mentioned Siphoviridae, these two
virus families include members that have a demonstrated capacity to execute a lytic cycle
upon S. aureus. The obtained gene sequences corroborated these TEM structural findings
(data not shown).
TRIPLE COCKTAIL OF PHAGES TARGETED TO C. ACNES DIMINISH BOTH
PLANKTONIC CULTURES AND BIOFILMS
The isolated three Siphoviral phages were examined for their capacity to follow a rapid lytic
cycle and consequently diminish planktonic C. acnes laboratory cultures individually (data
not shown) and when combined into a triple cocktail (Figure 3). The planktonic evaluations
were conducted using qualitative visual assessments (Figure 3, left panel), where the relative
translucency of untreated and phage-treated C. acnes cultures were visually examined
against a lined paper background. As shown in Figure 3, bacterial growth media alone was
sufficiently translucent to see the lines in the background (left panel, inset A), while 2-day
old cultures of C. acnes exhibited such turbidity that the lines were obscured (left panel,
inset B). The translucency was restored following incubation with the phage triple cocktail
for 24 hours (left panel, inset C), which was comparable to the media alone as shown side-
by-side (left panel, inset D). Quantitative optical density measurements were achieved by
measuring the light absorbance of the different cultures using a spectrophotometer at 600
nanometers (Figure 3, right panel). This analysis demonstrated that the phage cocktail
reduced the turbidity of the C. acnes culture by approximately 75%.
C. acnes have also been shown to organize into stratified biofilms, potentially augmenting
their virulence and complicating countermeasures against them.7,47–50 It has been observed
that some phage-based interventions surpass traditional antibiotics in reducing bacterial
biofilms.51–53 As such, the combined solution of three different C. acnes targeted phages was
SKIN CARE TARGET #1:
Cug415bacterium acnes
Siphoviridae
SKIN CARE TARGET #2:
Staphylococcus aureus
Podoviridae Myoviridae
A B
Figure 2. TEM images of phages obtained from phage hunts. A) TEM image of phage structures belonging
to the Siphoviridae family that target C. acnes. B) TEM images of phage structures belonging to either the
Podoviridae (left) and Myoviridae (right) family that target S. aureus.
