Isolation and Characterization of ΦGF1, a Morphotype C3 Bacteriophage that Infects Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT It has been isolated a lytic bacteriophage specific to Escherichia coli , which can infect at least one different bacterial group. Phage ФGF1 was isolated from a wastewater treatment plant. It is resistant to the effect of chloroform and is stable at 40 and 50 °C. In addition, it is stable in the range of pH 5-8. Its host range is wide, infecting even strains from another genus such as Shigella . The one-step growth curve yielded a short latent period of 15 minutes and a burst size of 85 PFU per infected cell. Under the electron microscope, this phage presents the C3 morphotype, extremely rare among members of the Podoviridae family. Phage ФGF1 shows some characteristics that could be considered useful in biocontrol applications against E. coli . Keywords: Bacteriophage, Escherichia coli , morphotype C3, Podoviridae . IMPORTANCE Wastewater throughout the world is a heavy carrier of potential pathogens that live in their environment along with other biological agents, such as bacteriophages, which play a controlling role of the bacterial populations there, as in soil. The description of the diversity of such bacteriophages is of paramount importance since they could be used to intentionally reduce or remove those pathogens from that environment. Our work describes a bacteriophage that lives primarily in this type of water.