Partial characterization and in vitro evaluation of a lytic bacteriophage for biocontrol of Campylobacter jejuni in mutton and chicken meat

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is a major foodborne pathogen causing acute bacterial enteritis worldwide. Screening of novel bacteriophages as biocontrol tools to eliminate C. jejuni in food during pre‐ and postharvest is an emerging research field. In this study, we partially characterized C. jejuni bacteriophage CJ01 for potential use as biocontrol agent. Transmission electron microscopy revealed bacteriophage CJ01 belonged to the Myoviridae family with a genome size of approximately 136 kb. The results of host range assay revealed CJ01 was able to infect C. jejuni and C. lari strains, with burst size about 35 phages per infected cell and latent period of 30 min. The effectiveness of bacteriophage CJ01 (with 100 multiplicity of infection = 100) was determined in mutton and chicken meat artificially contaminated with C. jejuni. The amount of C. jejuni in treated mutton and chicken meat were significantly reduced by 1.70 log CFU/g and 1.68 log CFU/g, respectively, after 48 hr stored at refrigeration temperature (4°C). The data presented here suggest that bacteriophage CJ01 can be used as a postharvest biocontrol agent.

Isolation and Characterization of Group III Campylobacter jejuni–Specific Bacteriophages From Germany and Their Suitability for Use in Food Production

“…All four phage were stable in buffered solutions with pH values ranging from pH 4 to pH 11 at 22 and 42 • C, while reduced stability was observed after exposure to pH 2 and 12. Thung et al (2020) reported similar findings for the phage Cj01. Interestingly, just one bacteriophage (CP1-4), was able to retain stability at a pH of 3 at 42 • C for 24 h, while the other three phages (CP1-5, CP74-2c1, and CP132-3c) proved only stable during exposure to pH 3 for at least 2 h at 42 • C. At pH 3 and 22 • C, the stability was less pronounced.…”

“…They have been used for reducing Campylobacter on chicken meat in different studies and proved more efficient in binding to Campylobacter cells at low temperatures than the flagellotropic group II phages (Atterbury et al, 2003;Goode et al, 2003;Zampara et al, 2017). While some studies did not result in significant Campylobacter reduction on the treated products (Orquera et al, 2012), other studies reported a significant reduction by these phages (Thung et al, 2020). Experiments on reduction of Campylobacter in broiler chickens by using group III phages showed significant reductions in some of the settings and varying duration of the reducing effect (Carrillo et al, 2005;Wagenaar et al, 2005;Scott et al, 2007;Kittler et al, 2013).…”

Phages in Food Industry Biocontrol and Bioremediation

“…Recently, bacteriophage CJ01 has been tested as a biocontrol agent against C. jejuni in mutton and chicken meat. A reduction of 1.70 log CFU/g and 1.68 log CFU/g was obtained in treated mutton and chicken meat, respectively, at 4 • C [36].…”

Advances in the use of biocontrol applications in preharvest and postharvest environments: A food safety milestone

“…monocytogenes , Campylobacter jejuni and E . coli O157:H7 (Mirkovic et al, 2020; Thung et al, 2020) have been recently explored. Mirkovic et al (2020) revealed biocontrol potential of Lactococcus lactis subsp.…”