A phage for the controlling of Salmonella in poultry and reducing biofilms

Phages for controlling Salmonella in poultry

The spread of Salmonella in poultry can lead to contaminated meat and sick consumers.

Conventional methods of antimicrobial control can contribute to antibiotic resistance, but fortunately there is a natural alternative: phages.

Phages, viruses that infect and destroy bacteria, have been shown to be extremely effective against Salmonella. In a recent study, a lytic phage called LP31 was isolated from poultry feces.

This phage has shown that it can not only prevent the formation of antibiotic-resistant biofilms, but also control them. This makes it a promising option for controlling Salmonella in the poultry and food industries. As the diversity of Salmonella strains continues to increase, the search for widespread, strictly lytic phages remains critical to curbing the spread of this potentially harmful bacterium.

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The authors Haojie Ge, Chao Lin, Yanping Xu, Maozhi Hu, Zhengzhong Xu, Shizhong Geng, Xin’an Jiao, and Xiang Chen presented these findings in their article A phage for the controlling of Salmonella in poultry and reducing biofilms, dated June 2022.

Topics include:

• Phages are recognized as highly effective control agents for Salmonella and other foodborne bacteria due to the wide diversity of Salmonella serotypes and the emergence of phage-resistant strains.
• In this study, a lytic phage, LP31, was isolated from poultry feces samples. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the phage had a polyhedral head and a retraction-free tail, indicating the family Siphoviridae.
• Adsorption rate experiments showed that LP31 requires the involvement of lipopolysaccharides during adsorption to host cells.

Abstract

As a natural alternative to traditional antimicrobials, phages are being recognised as highly effective control agents for Salmonella and other foodborne bacteria.

Due to the high diversity of Salmonella serotypes and the emergence of phage-resistant strains, attempting to isolate more widespread, strictly lytic Salmonella phages is highly warranted.

In this study, a lytic phage, LP31, was isolated from poultry faecal samples.

Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the phage had a polyhedral head and a retraction-free tail, indicative of the Siphoviridae family.

Adsorption rate experiments showed that LP31 required the participation of lipopolysaccharides, but not flagella, during phage adsorption. H

ost profile identification showed that LP31 could lyse most Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) (96.15%, N = 104) and Salmonella Pullorum (S. Pullorum) (96.67%, N = 60).

Initial applications found that LP31 reduced the concentration of static S. Enteritidis on metal surfaces (0.951 log10 cfu/ml) and in the faeces of chicks (2.14 log10 cfu/g).

Notably, LP31 could almost completely remove biofilms formed by S. Enteritidis and S. Pullorum in 1 h.

These findings suggest that LP31 has a good prevention and control effect against biofilms and planktonic antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, and is therefore a potentially promising biocontrol agent for controlling the spread of Salmonella in the poultry and food processing industries.

Keywords: Biofilm; Phage; Poultry; Salmonella.

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