Despite most people having never heard of them, they’re one of the most common forms of life on Earth, and they could save New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry from the Psa disease.
New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri has announced it has partnered with US bacteriophage producer OmniLytics Incorporated.
Bacteriophages – commonly shortened to phages – are viruses that specifically infect and kill bacteria. Accordin to Zespri, OmniLytics is a global leader in phage technology, particularly the development of phage treatments for horticultural pathogens.
Zespri hopes the partnership will turn up a phage-based treatment for the vine-killing bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae (Psa), which has had New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry on edge since its detection in the country last year.
“We are moving forward with urgency on this project to help provide the kiwifruit industry with a viable, long-term bacterial control solution,” said OmniLytics CEO Justin Reber.
“Our relationship with Zespri is a perfect illustration of OmniLytics’ partnering strategy to team with world leaders in their respective markets with a goal to jointly develop and commercialise innovative bacteriophage solutions.”
The partnership is a new facet to New Zealand’s wide-ranging research efforts into Psa since the outbreak, led by Zespri and Kiwifruit Vine Health, according to Zespri’s innovations manager Bryan Parkes.
He explained bacteriophages are non-toxic to humans, plants and animals, leave no residues, and have no harmful side-effects. Phages are relatively inexpensive to produce, and have proven to be effective treatments for some plant bacterial diseases.
Phage therapy in agriculture generally involves the introduction of specific phage strains to an ecosystem to reduce the population size of particular bacteria. Phage therapy has been previously used to treat E. coli infections, as well as bacterial pathogens in tomatoes, potatoes and mushrooms.
