Characterization and complete genome sequence analysis of a newly isolatedphage against Vibrio parahaemolyticus from sick shrimp in Qingdao, China

Abstract

Foodborne diseases have become a serious havoc, where antimicrobial resistance is throwing significant challenges on daily basis. With the increase of drug-resistant bacteria and food-borne infection associated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus, new and effective strategies were needed to control the emergence of vibriosis. Lytic bacteriophages come up as a promising way to resist the pathogenic population in various applications. In this study, a V. parahaemolyticus specific phage vB_VpS_PG28 was isolated from sewage in the seafood market. Results showed vB_VpS_PG28, is strictly a lytic bacteriophage and has a relatively large burst size of 103 plaque-forming units per infected cell. Comparative genomic and bioinformatic analyses proved that vB_VpS_PG28 is a new bacteriophage that had a homologous relation with Vibrio phages of family Siphoviridae, especially with phage VH2_2019, but transmission electron microscopy of vB_VpS_PG28 morphology characterized its morphology is similar to that of Myoviridae family. In silico analysis indicated that the vB_VpS_PG28 genome consists of 82712 bp (48.08% GC content) encoding 114 putative ORFs without tRNA,and any gene associated with resistance or virulence factors has not been found. The bacteriophage in the present study has shown significant outcomes in order to control bacterial growth under in vitro conditions. Thus, we are suggesting a beneficiary agent against foodborne pathogens. Further, to ensure the safe usage of phage oral toxicity testing is recommended.

Coastal water bacteriophages infect various sets of Vibrio parahaemolyticus sequence types

“…The four phages isolated in this study (27Ua.3, 29Fa.3, 31Fb.4, and 33Fb.4) were sequenced and genome lengths and percent GC content values were compared to other vibriophage data available in the NCBI database. The previously published phages demonstrated characteristics of Siphoviruses with the exception of vBVpSPG28 showing tail morphology similar to that of Myoviruses ( Tian et al, 2022 ). Phage genome lengths and percent GC content were similar to vB VpaS MAR10 (isolated off the coast of Mexico) and SHOU24 (isolated from aquatic market sewage in Shanghai, China; Villa et al, 2012 ; Yuan et al, 2014 ).…”

Characterization of a Vibriophage Infecting Pathogenic Vibrio harveyi

“…The plaque diameter and burst size of R21Y were 0.69 ± 0.15 mm and 35 plaque-forming units (PFU) per cell, respectively. From a comparative analysis of phage R21Y with vibriophages VB_VhaS-R18L (2.0 mm, 54 PFU/cell) [53] and vB_VpS_PG28 (1.5-2.0 mm, 103 PFU/cell) [55], it is intuitively apparent that a larger burst size would result in a larger plaque size. i.e., the plaque size of Vibrio phages is positively correlated with burst size, which concurs with the classical model [56].…”