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Host range and lytic capability of four bacteriophages against bovine and clinical human isolates of Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli O157:H7
Author(s) -
Niu Y.D.,
Johnson R.P.,
Xu Y.,
McAllister T.A.,
Sharma R.,
Louie M.,
Stanford K.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2009.04231.x
Subject(s) - lytic cycle , microbiology and biotechnology , escherichia coli , shiga toxin , toxin , biology , bacteriophage , virology , bacteria , host (biology) , enterobacteriaceae , shiga like toxin , microbial toxins , virus , genetics , gene
Aims: To evaluate host range and lytic capability of four bacteriophages (rV5, wV7, wV8 and wV11) against Escherichia coli O157:H7 (STEC O157:H7) from cattle and humans. Methods and Results: Four hundred and twenty‐two STEC O157:H7 isolates (297 bovine; 125 human) were obtained in Alberta, Canada. The four phages were serially diluted and incubated for 5 h with overnight cultures of STEC O157:H7 to estimate their multiplicity of infection (MOI). All bovine STEC O157:H7 were subjected to pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and phage typing (PT). Phage wV7 lysed all human and bovine isolates irrespective of PFGE genotype or PT phenotype and exhibited the lowest MOI (0·004–0·006, P < 0·0001) of all phages. Phages rV5 and wV11 exhibited a lower MOI (0·002–0·04, P < 0·0001) than did phage wV8 (25–29) and they had a narrower host range than wV7 or wV8. Phages rV5, wV11 and wV8 lysed 342 (81·0%), 321 (76·1%) and 407 (96·4%), respectively, of the 422 isolates. Susceptibility of bovine STEC O157:H7 to rV5, w11 and wV8 was influenced by PFGE genotype and/or PT phenotype. Conclusions: Phages exhibited activity against the majority of bovine and human STEC O157:H7 isolates. PFGE genotype and/or PT phenotype of the host‐target influenced their vulnerability to phage attack. Susceptibility of bovine STEC O157:H7 to phage may also differ among farms. Both lytic capability and host range should be considered in the selection of therapeutic phage for on‐farm control of STEC O157:H7. Significance and Impact of the Study: The present work indicates that a four‐phage cocktail should be equally effective at mitigating STEC O157:H7 isolates both of bovine and of human origin. Given that some STEC O157:H7 exhibited resistance to some but not all phages, a phage cocktail is the logical approach to efficacious on‐farm therapy.