Abstract
Salmonella and Escherichia coli (E. coli) food contamination could lead to serious foodborne diseases. The gradual increase in the incidence of foodborne disease invokes new and efficient methods to limit food pathogenic microorganism contamination. In this study, a polyvalent broad-spectrum Escherichia phage named Tequatrovirus EP01 was isolated from pig farm sewage. It could lyse both Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) and E. coli and exhibited broad host range. EP01 possessed a short latent period (10 min), a large burst size (80 PFU/cell), and moderate pH stability (4–10) and appropriate thermal tolerance (30–80 °C). Electron microscopy and genome sequence revealed that EP01 belonged to T4-like viruses genus, Myoviridae family. EP01 harbored 12 CDSs associated with receptor-binding proteins and lacked virulence genes and drug resistance genes. We tested the inhibitory effect of EP01 on S. Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, E. coli O114:K90 (B90), and E. coli O142:K86 (B) in liquid broth medium (LB). EP01 could significantly reduce the counts of all tested strains compared with phage-free groups. We further examined the effectiveness of EP01 in controlling bacterial contamination in two kinds of foods (meat and milk) contaminated with S. Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, E. coli O114:K90 (B90), and E. coli O142:K86 (B), respectively. EP01 significantly reduced the viable counts of all the tested bacteria (2.18–6.55 log10 CFU/sample, p < 0.05). A significant reduction of 6.55 log10 CFU/cm2 (p < 0.001) in bacterial counts on the surface of meat was observed with EP01 treatment. Addition of EP01 at MOI of 1 decreased the counts of bacteria by 4.3 log10 CFU/mL (p < 0.001) in milk. Generally, the inhibitory effect exhibited more stable at 4 °C than that at 28 °C, whereas the opposite results were observed in milk. The antibacterial effects were better at MOI of 1 than that at MOI of 0.001. These results suggests that phage EP01-based method is a promising strategy of controlling Salmonella and Escherichia coli pathogens to limit microbial food contamination.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilBacterial food contamination is the main cause of foodborne diseases
These results suggests that phage EP01-based method is a promising strategy of controlling Salmonella and Escherichia coli pathogens to limit microbial food contamination
The results showed that at an Multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.001, all the tested E. coli bacteria contents exhibited a slow growth in the first hour and reached a stable level from 2 h to 5 h after phage treatment
Summary
Bacterial food contamination is the main cause of foodborne diseases. Salmonella and Escherichia coli (E. coli) are common bacteria that result in food contamination. Some specific serotypes of E. coli (O157:H7, O114:K90 (B90), O142:K86 (B)) are pathogenic and result in diarrhea, edema, haemorrhagic colitis, urinary infection, and septicemia. Enteritidis) is one of the most dangerous serovars since it was reported to be the major cause of over 50% of salmonellosis [2]. After the first report in the early 1980s, E. coli O157:H7 that caused foodborne diseases outbreaks has attracted more and more attention from academics and experts worldwide [3]. S. Enteritidis and E. coli were commonly found in contaminated water, dairy products, pork, vegetables, and fruits and resulted in foodborne diseases frequently [4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
