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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 3767-3773, Vol. 65, No. 9
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Biocontrol of Escherichia coli O157 with O157-Specific Bacteriophages

Indira T. Kudva,1 Srdjan Jelacic,2 Phillip I. Tarr,2 Philip Youderian,1 and Carolyn J. Hovde1,*

Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843,1 and Department of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center and University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 981052

Received 30 March 1999/Accepted 3 June 1999

Escherichia coli O157 antigen-specific bacteriophages were isolated and tested to determine their ability to lyse laboratory cultures of Escherichia coli O157:H7. A total of 53 bovine or ovine fecal samples were enriched for phage, and 5 of these samples were found to contain lytic phages that grow on E. coli O157:H7. Three bacteriophages, designated KH1, KH4, and KH5, were evaluated. At 37 or 4°C, a mixture of these three O157-specific phages lysed all of the E. coli O157 cultures tested and none of the non-O157 E. coli or non-E. coli cultures tested. These results required culture aeration and a high multiplicity of infection. Without aeration, complete lysis of the bacterial cells occurred only after 5 days of incubation and only at 4°C. Phage infection and plaque formation were influenced by the nature of the host cell O157 lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Strains that did not express the O157 antigen or expressed a truncated LPS were not susceptible to plaque formation or lysis by phage. In addition, strains that expressed abundant mid-range-molecular-weight LPS did not support plaque formation but were lysed in liquid culture. Virulent O157 antigen-specific phages could play a role in biocontrol of E. coli O157:H7 in animals and fresh foods without compromising the viability of other normal flora or food quality.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844. Phone: (208) 885-5906. Fax: (208) 885-6518. E-mail: cbohach{at}uidaho.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1999, p. 3767-3773, Vol. 65, No. 9
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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