Abstract
Ongoing outbreaks of foodborne diseases remain a significant public health concern. Lytic phages provide promising attributes as biocontrol agents. This study characterized KFS-EC3, a polyvalent and lytic phage, which was isolated from slaughterhouse sewage and purified by cesium chloride density centrifugation. Host range and efficiency of plating analyses revealed that KFS-EC3 is polyvalent and can efficiently infect E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Shigella sonnei. KFS-EC3 had a latent time of 20 min and burst size of ~71 phages/infected cell. KFS-EC3 was stable and infectious following storage at a pH range of 3 to 11 and a temperature range of −70 °C to 60 °C. KFS-EC3 could inhibit E. coli O157:H7 growth by 2 logs up to 52 h even at the lowest MOI of 0.001. Genomic analysis of KFS-EC3 revealed that it consisted of 167,440 bp and 273 ORFs identified as functional genes, without any genes associated with antibiotic resistance, virulence, allergenicity, and lysogenicity. This phage was finally classified into the Tequatrovirus genus of the Myoviridae family. In conclusion, KFS-EC3 could simultaneously infect E. coli O157:H7, S. sonnei, and Salmonella spp. with the lowest MOI values over long periods, suggesting its suitability for simultaneous pathogen control in foods.
Highlights
E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 10536 was used as an indicator strain for phage isolation and was used with 56 other strains for the specificity analysis (Table 1)
Foodborne illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, or Shigella are of great conFoodborne illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, or Shigella are of great cern to public health
Genome analysis of KFS-EC3 revealed that it is a new phage of Tequatrovirus, and its potential safety was based on the absence of genes involved in virulence, allergenicity, lysogenicity, and antibiotic resistance
Summary
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 48 million people get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3000 die from foodborne illnesses annually in the United
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