Abstract
Foodborne Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) cause severe diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans. However, traditional methods for STEC sterilization are difficult to apply to fresh food. To control the pathogen, phage infecting E. coli O157:H7 were isolated and characterized. The isolated phage vB_EcoM-ECP26 had an icosahedral head and a contractile tail, and was classified as belonging to the Myoviridae family. The phage showed a broad host range against STEC and exhibited a large burst size of 1914 PFU/cell. The phage was highly stable at high temperatures (65 °C) and wide ranges of pH (4–10). The genome of vB_EcoM-ECP26 consists of 136,993 nucleotides, 214 open reading frames, and does not contain lysogenicity-related genes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that vB_EcoM-ECP26 is a V5-like species. STEC O157 growth was inhibited by vB_EcoM-ECP26 for 8 h. Furthermore, this phage not only significantly decreased the STEC population (p < 0.05), but also persisted in fresh lettuce at 4 °C for 5 days. Therefore, these results reveal that the novel lytic phage vB_EcoM-ECP26 could be a useful agent for the control of foodborne STEC.
Highlights
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria that is commonly found in the gut of mammals, including humans [44]
Pathogenic E. coli can be classified based on their virulence factors; the most problematic type may be Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) which cause severe diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans and livestock [10, 35]
The sewage sample was centrifuged at 8000 rpm for 5 min and the supernatant was purified using a 0.22 μm filter system (Millipore, USA). 100 μL of the 24 h enrichment host culture and filtered samples were added to 5 mL of LBC soft agar (LBC broth with 0.8% agar) and overlaid on LBC agar
Summary
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria that is commonly found in the gut of mammals, including humans [44]. Most strains of E. coli are harmless and play an important role in intestinal health [24]. Some pathogenic E. coli strains can cause severe illness. Pathogenic E. coli can be classified based on their virulence factors; the most problematic type may be Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) which cause severe diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans and livestock [10, 35]. Most infections caused by STEC are foodborne and caught by consuming unheated food. Since STEC is destroyed at 70 °C, infections can be prevented by sufficient heating [45]
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