Isolation, Characterization, and Genome Analysis of a Novel Bacteriophage, Escherichia Phage vB_EcoM-4HA13, Representing a New Phage Genus in the Novel Phage Family Chaseviridae

Janet T Lin; Sarah Kirst; Stevan Cucić; Alexandra Klem; Yi-Min She; Andrew M Kropinski; Hany Anany

doi:10.3390/v14112356

Isolation, Characterization, and Genome Analysis of a Novel Bacteriophage, Escherichia Phage vB_EcoM-4HA13, Representing a New Phage Genus in the Novel Phage Family Chaseviridae

Viruses. 2022 Oct 26;14(11):2356. doi: 10.3390/v14112356.

Authors

Janet T Lin¹, Sarah Kirst², Stevan Cucić^{1

2}, Alexandra Klem³, Yi-Min She⁴, Andrew M Kropinski⁵, Hany Anany^{1

2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Guelph Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON N1G 5C9, Canada.
² Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
³ Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada.
⁴ Centre for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada.
⁵ Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
⁶ Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.

Abstract

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses in North America and can lead to severe symptoms, with increased fatality risk for young children. While E. coli O157:H7 remains the dominant STEC serotype associated with foodborne outbreaks, there has been an increasing number of non-O157 STEC outbreaks in recent years. For the food industry, lytic bacteriophages offer an organic, self-limiting alternative to pathogen reduction-one that could replace or reduce the use of chemical and physical food processing methods. From EHEC-enriched sewage, we isolated a novel bacteriophage, vB_EcoM-4HA13 (4HA13). Phenotypic characterizations revealed 4HA13 to possess a myoviral morphotype, with a high specificity to non-motile O111 serotype, and a long latent period (90 min). Through genomic analyses, this 52,401-bp dsDNA phage was found to contain 81 CDS, but no detectable presence of antibiotic resistance, integrase, or virulence genes. A BLASTn search for each of the identified 81 CDS yielded homologues with low levels of similarity. Comparison of RNA polymerase and terminase large subunit amino acid sequences led to the proposal and acceptance of a new bacteriophage family, Chaseviridae, with 4HA13 representing a new species and genus. The discovery of this phage has broadened our current knowledge of bacteriophage diversity.

Keywords: Chaseviridae; Escherichia coli; STEC O111-specific bacteriophage; bacteriophage; genomics; proteomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacteriophages* / genetics
Caudovirales* / genetics
Child
Child, Preschool
Escherichia coli O157*
Genome
Humans
Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (PSS#3200 “Fungal and Bacterial Biosystematics—bridging taxonomy and “omics” technology in agricultural research and regulation”).