Background: Ideally, bacteriophages of pathogenic bacterial hosts should be polyvalent to be able to replicate in
an alternative nonpathogenic bacterium. Thus, accidental infection by the original host can be avoided when
bacteriophage lysates are used in biocontrol protocols.
Results: From 15 wastewater samples, collected at different sites in the V Region in Chile, we selected three
bacteriophages (FC, FP, and FQ) capable of productively infecting
Salmonella enterica
serovar Choleraesuis. By
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation, the bacteriophages were found to belong to the order
Caudoviridae. Molecular analyses indicated that FC, FP, and FQ contained double-stranded DNA genomes, of
sizes similar to bacteriophage P22, and distinct recognition sites for the restriction endonucleases HaeIII and
HindIII. Assays of host range revealed that the bacteriophages were polyvalent and thus capable of infecting
different strains of Escherichia coli and other serovars of
Salmonella
.
Conclusion: We have isolated newbacteriophages of the serovar Choleraesuiswith various potential applications
in relation to this pathogenic bacterium.
