Characterization of a novelBacillus methylotrophicusphage BM-P1

Abstract

Bacillus species have been widely used as probiotics in a number of food products. However, these are vulnerable to bacteriophage infections which poses fermentation failure and eventually result in economic losses. Given this, we designed this study in which bacteriophage of lysogenic Bacillus methylotrophicus, Phage BM-P, was induced successfully, and its biological characteristics and genome information were researched. The obtained results showed that Bacillus species phage belonged to Myoviridae family. The maximum number of infections (MOI) for this phage was 10, with a burst size of 104.48 ± 2.70 counts expressed per milliliter per infective center. Additionally, this phage was temperature and pH sensitive and divalent ions (Ca 2+, Mg 2+) and chloramphenicol did not express significant influence on its adsorption capacity. Genomic analysis revealed that the genome size of Phage BM-P1 was 153,087 bp having 41.94% GC content, including 258 coding sequences (CDs). Further, 52 bacteriophages of Bacillus were classified into two clades by using phylogenetic analysis. Among them, phage BM-P1 with phage VB_BsuM-Goe3 and vB_BveM-Goe7 had highest ANI values, 95.23% and 95.28%, respectively. However, synteny analysis unraveled transpose, deletion and insertion in the genome of BM-P1. Considering this, it could be extrapolated that this phage is a new lysogenic phage. In conclusion, this study furthers the knowledge on the properties of Bacillus methylotrophicus phages and provides seminal insights for designing effective antiphage strategies for fermentation industry.

Characteristics and Whole-Genome Analysis of Limosilactobacillus fermentum Phage LFP02

“…Similar to our results, Quiberoni reported that Ca 2+ had no effect on the adsorption kinetics of phage BYM and phage LL-H [41]. Briggiler Marcó et al found that regardless of whether calcium ions were added, the adsorption rate of phages would reach 99% at 15 min [14]. In 2016, Chen et al reported that divalent cations were not necessary for the adsorption of L. plantarum phage P1 but could accelerate the lytic process [46].…”

“…Müller-Merbach et al found that Lactococcus lactis phage P008 reduced only 1 log 10 at 55 • C for 3 h [32]. Briggiler Marcó et al also found that the survival of L. plantarum bacteriophages (B1, B2, FAGK1, and FAGK2) was 95% after incubation at 50 • C for 30 min [14]. Therefore, compared to other Lactobacillus phages, phage LFP02 is more sensitive to temperature.…”

“…In order to evaluate the effect of temperature and pH values on phage viability, this study used the methods previously described by Lv et al [14]. Viable phages were counted immediately using the DLA method.…”

“…In order to explore the effect of divalent cations (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) and chloramphenicol on the adsorption of phage, this study used the methods previously described by Lv et al [14]. The minimum chloramphenicol concentration was determined based on previous studies [15].…”