I have read where S. aureus can be cured of its phages using Mitomycin C. However, only the phages survive -- the S. aureus itself dies during the process. I need to cure the bacteria and have it survive. Any ideas would be most welcome!
When you induce a lysogen in most cases the phage goes through a lytic cycle and lyses the host. So the host will die. However some tiny percentage will survive and be free of the lysogenic phage. So the mitomycin C can be thought of as a selection for non-lysogenic hosts. However the second problem is that if the other cells are releasing lots of phage, the non-lysogen can be reinfected with the phage in the culture and subsequently be lysed.
So one general protocol would be to add mitomycin C to a culture, give it some time to induce (10 min or so) and then prepare a series of serial dilutions and plate them out on plates so that you have well isolated colonies. Then restreak those (important, there will be lots of phage around on the plate) and test them for whether they are still lysogen or not. You might need to test a bunch (10-20+) to find a few good cured colonies.
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