Lytic bacteriophages

Abstract

Foodborne illnesses resulting from the consumption of produce commodities contaminated with enteric pathogens continue to be a significant public health issue. Lytic bacteriophages may provide an effective and natural intervention to reduce bacterial pathogens on fresh and fresh-cut produce commodities. The use of multi-phage cocktails specific for a single pathogen has been most frequently assessed on produce commodities to minimize the development of bacteriophage insensitive mutants (BIM) in target pathogen populations. Regulatory approval for the use of several lytic phage products specific for bacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in foods and on food processing surfaces has been granted by various agencies in the US and other countries, possibly allowing for the more widespread use of bacteriophages in the decontamination of fresh and minimally processed produce. Research studies have shown lytic bacteriophages specific for E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes have been effective in reducing pathogen populations on leafy greens, sprouts and tomatoes.

Reporter bacteriophage T7NLCutilizes a novel NanoLuc::CBM fusion for the ultrasensitive detection ofEscherichia coliin water

“…13,14 Bacteriophage ( phage) based detection methods have demonstrated a high potential to detect, mitigate and control the causative bacterial agents of foodborne illness. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Phages are a natural viral predator of bacteria whose total population outnumbers any other biological entity on the planet. 22 Infection begins with binding to host cell surface receptors and then injecting their genome into the cell through specific and localized degradation of the bacterial cell wall.…”

Lytic Bacteriophages as Biocontrol Agents of Foodborne Pathogens

“…The phage cocktail lysed 90% of the bacterial strains on broccoli samples during storage at 10°C for 24, 120 and 168 h. Similar results were found with ECP-100 in reducing E. coli O157:H7 number on tomato slices and spinach samples. The potential of ECP-100 in reducing E. coli contamination of cantaloupe slices and fresh-cut lettuce stored at refrigeration temperature 4°C was also evaluated (Sharma, 2013). Viazis et al (2011) investigated the efficacy of a mixture of eight lytic E. coli O157:H7 specific phages (10 7 PFU mLG 1 ) with different MOI levels (1, 10 and 100) over E. coli O157:H7 contaminated organic baby spinach and baby romaine lettuce leaves under various conditions (8, 23 and 37°C for 10 min, 1 and 24 h).…”

“…Recently, the applications of phages in food safety are gaining momentum for several reasons, the most important of which is increased customer and regulatory pressures to ensure food safety while reducing the use of harsh chemical sanitizers and disinfectants. Indeed, the results of recent studies dealing with improving food safety and several recent regulatory approvals of various commercial phage preparations emphasize that lytic phages may provide a safe, environment friendly and effective approach for significantly reducing contamination of various foods with foodborne bacterial pathogens (Hagens and Offerhaus, 2008;Sulakvelidze, 2013;Singh et al, 2013;Sharma, 2013;Tan et al, 2014).…”

Techno‐economic analysis of a plant‐based platform for manufacturing antimicrobial proteins for food safety

“…For example, recent literature highlights the challenge of the "viable but nonculturable" (VBNC) state of microorganisms in these foodsanitizing treatments. 11 In fact, various preparations of bacteriophages, such as the Salmonella-specific bacteriophage cocktail SalmoFresh™, 12 endolysins, 13,14 and bacteriocins, such as colicins 15,16 and nisins, 17 have already been granted Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status as food antimicrobials by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 10 Biotic approaches to food sanitization have high potential as supplementary treatments to de-risk the supply chain by employing efficacious and orthogonal protection against high-risk pathogens.…”

“…Therefore, there is a strong and intuitive case for acceptance of certain bacteriophage-and bacteriocin-derived antimicrobial treatments for food safety applications. 11 In fact, various preparations of bacteriophages, such as the Salmonella-specific bacteriophage cocktail SalmoFresh™, 12 endolysins, 13,14 and bacteriocins, such as colicins 15,16 and nisins, 17 have already been granted Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status as food antimicrobials by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is anticipated that similar antimicrobial preparations will be granted GRAS status by FDA in the future, as the popularity of these technologies grows and additional regulatory notices are filed.…”