ABSTRACT
Phage identification methods have been in use for some 90 years now, and this recent revival of its fortunes in the form of commercial tests that are beginning to emerge suggests that they will continue to be used for some time to come. Reporter phage were first described in 1987 when the principle of reporter phage assays was demonstrated using a Lambda cloning vector containing the bacterial lux operon that was used for detection. The majority of the bioluminescent reporter phage described so far have utilized just the luxAB genes that are approximately 2 kbp in size and encode the bacterial luciferase enzyme. However, this group also found that combining reporter phage with selective enrichment of the target bacteria improved the sensitivity of reporter phage assays. Hence, like the reporter phage assays, phage amplification assays provide live/dead differentiation. Confusingly, these phage growth assays are also referred to as phage amplification assays, but the two methods are very distinct.
