{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T02:46:28Z","timestamp":1791945988599,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000774","name":"Defense Threat Reduction Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["HDTRA1-21-1-0029"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HDTRA1-21-1-0029"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000774","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, presents significant challenges in both treatment and environmental decontamination. Bacteriophages, or phages, are increasingly being explored as potential diagnostic, therapeutic, and biocontrol agents against this bacterial pathogen. Our recent investigation has shown that most B. pseudomallei genomes contained prophage(s) associated with specific tRNA gene loci, prompting us to explore these detectable prophages as sources of temperate phages for further applications. Transcriptomic profiling of B. pseudomallei Bp82, a model strain that possesses three different prophages, revealed high expression levels of the integrase and certain transcriptional regulatory genes within its prophages during normal exponential growth. Using one of its temperate phages, namely \u03c6BP82.2, a P2-like phage, as a model, we investigated the lysogenic\u2013lytic control mechanisms. Mutagenesis of the integrase gene, phiBP82.2_gp51, did not improve killing activity compared to the wildtype phage. In contrast, deletion of phiBP82.2_gp38, a putative transcriptional regulatory gene, and two downstream hypothetical protein genes, phiBP82.2_gp36 and phiBP82.2_gp37, resulted in significant lytic improvement. We conclude that these genes play a crucial role in the lysogenic\u2013lytic switch of \u03c6BP82.2, suggesting a new avenue for engineering temperate phages for future applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27062772","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T17:12:26Z","timestamp":1773853946000},"page":"2772","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Genetic Engineering of Lysogenic\u2013Lytic Switch Genes Improves Burkholderia Phage Killing Efficacy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-7368-4234","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pacharapong","family":"Khrongsee","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"},{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prince of Songkhla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7672-2355","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah M.","family":"Doore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nawarat","family":"Somprasong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Herbert P.","family":"Schweizer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu-Ping","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kuttichantran","family":"Subramaniam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"},{"name":"Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, 2055 Mowry Rd., Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8442-6727","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayalew","family":"Mergia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3380-0448","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Apichai","family":"Tuanyok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA"},{"name":"Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, 2055 Mowry Rd., Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1715","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(03)13374-0","article-title":"Melioidosis","volume":"361","author":"White","year":"2003","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"272","DOI":"10.1038\/nrmicro1385","article-title":"Melioidosis: Insights into the pathogenicity of Burkholderia pseudomallei","volume":"4","author":"Wiersinga","year":"2006","journal-title":"Nat. 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