Bacteriophage application to control the contaminated water with Shigella

Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 14:6:22636. doi: 10.1038/srep22636.

Abstract

Shigella is one of the most important waterborne and foodborne pathogens around the world. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant Shigella has made the development of alternatives to conventional antibiotics necessary. In this study, a virulent Myoviridae bacteriophage, pSs-1 was isolated from environmental water in South Korea and showed infectivity to S. flexneri as well as S. sonnei strains. One-step growth analysis showed that pSs-1 has a short latent period (25 min) and a large burst size (97 PFU/cell). According to the genomic analysis, pSs-1 contains 164,999 bp of genome with a G + C content of 35.54% and it is considered as a member of the T4-like bacteriophage group. These results showed that pSs-1 may have potential as a biocontrol agent instead of conventional antibiotics for shigellosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Composition
  • DNA, Viral / chemistry
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Genes, Viral / genetics
  • Genome, Viral / genetics
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Myoviridae / genetics
  • Myoviridae / physiology*
  • Myoviridae / ultrastructure
  • Republic of Korea
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Shigella flexneri / virology*
  • Shigella sonnei / virology*
  • Species Specificity
  • Time Factors
  • Virus Latency
  • Water Microbiology*
  • Water Pollution / prevention & control*

Substances

  • DNA, Viral