ISSN: 2471-9315
Juhee Ahn and Lae-Seung Jung
Kangwon National University, Republic of Korea
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Appli Micro
Bacteriophages have regained attention as a potential alternative over antibiotics due to their specificity for the host bacteria. The lytic ability of virulent bacteriophages is highly associated with the bacteriophage-host binding property. The aim of this study was to characterize the Salmonella bacteriophages (P22-B1, P22, PBS10, PBS13, PBS32 and PBS35) based on restriction mapping and structural protein analysis. The protein profiles of Salmonella bacteriophages exhibited variations, including common bands ranging from 10 to 12 kDa (P22, PBST10, PBST13, PBST32 and PBST35) and 30 to 45 kDa (P22-B1, P22 and PBST-10). These proteins might be responsible for the host specificity, corresponding to tape measure protein (gp61; 66 kDa), tail fiber protein (gp69; 60 kDa), baseplate protein (gp 67; 55 kDa), capsid protein (40 kDa), portal protein (gp1), scaffolding protein (gp4, gp8; 33.5 kDa), coat protein (35 kDa), tail plug protein (gp26), tail needle (gp26), ejection proteins (gp7, gp16, gp20) and tailspike-endorhamnosidase (gp37; tailspike protein binding). The estimated genome size of P22 was approximately 44 kbp. The highest lytic activity was observed for P22 against S. Typhimurium KCCM 40253, showing more than 5 log reduction. The specificity of P22 for antibiotic-sensitive S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585 was not noticeable when compared to ciprofloxacin-induced antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585. However, the clinically isolated antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium CCARM 8009 showed the least lytic activity against P22-B1, P22, PBST10, PBST13, PBST32 and PBST 35. The results would help to develop new therapeutic strategy as a prospective alternative control of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Juhee Ahn has received his PhD degree majoring in Food Microbiology at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA and continued his work as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Food Microbiology Lab at the University of Missouri (2003-2004) and Food Safety Engineering Lab at the Ohio State University (2004-2006). He is interested in the microbial pathogenesis, including the mechanistic studies of antibiotic resistance, bacterial infection and bacteriophage control. He was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Maryland (2012-2013) as well as Zhejiang University (2016-2017). Currently, he is a Professor at the Department of Medical Biomaterials Engineering, Kangwon National University. South Korea.