Novel Drexlerviridae bacteriophage KMI8 with specific lytic activity against Klebsiella michiganensis and its biofilms.

Heng Ku,Steve Petrovski,Hiu Tat Chan,Mwila Kabwe,Cassandra Stanton,Joseph Tucci,Steven Batinovic,Adelaide Almeida

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257102

Heng Ku, Steve Petrovski + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257102

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Sep 7, 2021
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: La Trobe University, Royal Melbourne Hospital

Abstract

The bacterial genus Klebsiella includes the closely related species K. michiganensis, K. oxytoca and K. pneumoniae, which are capable of causing severe disease in humans. In this report we describe the isolation, genomic and functional characterisation of the lytic bacteriophage KMI8 specific for K. michiganensis. KMI8 belongs to the family Drexlerviridae, and has a novel genome which shares very little homology (71.89% identity over a query cover of only 8%) with that of its closest related bacteriophages (Klebsiella bacteriophage LF20 (MW417503.1); Klebsiella bacteriophage 066039 (MW042802.1). KMI8, which possess a putative endosialidase (depolymerase) enzyme, was shown to be capable of degrading mono-biofilms of a strain of K. michiganensis that carried the polysaccharide capsule KL70 locus. This is the first report of a lytic bacteriophage for K. michiganensis, which is capable of breaking down a biofilm of this species.

Highlights

The closely related Klebsiella bacteria K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca form part of the normal human flora, but are known to cause serious infections
They were unsuccessful in differentiating K. oxytoca from K. michiganensis: these techniques incorrectly identified each of KLEB11-KLEB16 as K. oxytoca
We describe here a novel lytic bacteriophage, KMI8, which has very little genetic similarity to other reported bacteriophages

Summary

Introduction

The closely related Klebsiella bacteria K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca form part of the normal human flora, but are known to cause serious infections. K. pneumoniae, a member of the group of ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter spp), can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections [1,2,3]. There have only been limited studies on K. michiganensis to date, it is being recognised as an emerging pathogen [8].

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