Bacteriophages, or "phages" for short, are viruses that replicate in bacteria. The therapeutic and biotechnological potential of phages and their lytic enzymes is of interest for their ability to selectively destroy pathogenic bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains. Introduction of phage preparations into medicine, biotechnology, and food industry requires a thorough characterization of phage-host interaction on a molecular level. We employed Raman tweezers to analyze the phage-host interaction of Staphylococcus aureus strain FS159 with a virulent phage JK2 (=812K1/420) of the Myoviridae family and a temperate phage 80α of the Siphoviridae family. We analyzed the timeline of phage-induced molecular changes in infected host cells. We reliably detected the presence of replicating phages in bacterial cells within 5 min after infection. Our results lay the foundations for building a Raman-based diagnostic instrument capable of real-time, in vivo, in situ, nondestructive characterization of the phage-host relationship on the level of individual cells, which has the potential of importantly contributing to the development of phage therapy and enzybiotics.

Center for Sepsis Control and Care Jena University Hospital Am Klinikum 1 D 07747 Jena Germany

Department of Experimental Biology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Experimental Plant Biology Faculty of Science Charles University Viničná 5 128 44 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Microbiology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University and St Anne's Faculty Hospital Pekařská 53 656 91 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Czech Academy of Sciences v v i Czech Academy of Sciences Královopolská 147 612 64 Brno Czech Republic

Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology Albert Einstein Str 9 D 07745 Jena Germany

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