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

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.