Dual Predation by Bacteriophage and Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus Can Eradicate Escherichia coli Prey in Situations where Single Predation Cannot

With increasing levels of antibiotic resistance, the development of alternative antibacterial therapies is urgently needed. Two potential alternatives are bacteriophage and predatory bacteria. Bacteriophage therapy has been used, but prey/host specificity and the rapid acquisition of bacterial resistance to bacteriophage are practical considerations. Predatory bacteria are of interest due to their broad Gram-negative bacterial prey range and the lack of simple resistance mechanisms. Here, a bacteriophage and a strain of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus , preyed side by side on a population of E. coli , causing a significantly greater decrease in prey numbers than either alone. Such combinatorial predator therapy may have greater potential than individual predators since prey surface changes selected for by each predator do not protect prey against the other predator.