Isolation and characterization of novel bacteriophage vB_KpP_HS106 for Klebsiella pneumonia K2 and applications in foods

Abstract

The detection rate of <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> in food is increasing, and it has emerged as a food pathogen. Global health is threatened due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and hypervirulent (hv) <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. Phages have a promising application as antibacterial agents and have the ability to lyse MDR strains. Hence, phage vB_KpP_HS106 against MDR-hv <i>K. pneumoniae</i> strains was isolated from sewage collected from a hospital. It can maintain stable activity at a pH range of 4-12 and a temperature range of 4°C to 50°C. The maximum adsorption rate of phage HS106 was found to be approximately 84.2% at 6 min. One-step growth curve analysis showed that the latent period of HS106 was 10 min and the burst size was approximately 183 PFU/cell. Furthermore, whole genome analysis indicated that the genome of phage HS106 was a double-stranded linear 76,430-bp long DNA molecule with 44% GC content. A total of 95 open reading frames were annotated in the HS106 genome, which did not contain any virulence genes or antibiotic resistance genes. Phage HS106 reduced MDR <i>K. pneumoniae</i> in milk by approximately 1.6 log₁₀ CFU/mL at 25°C and in chicken by approximately 2 log₁₀ CFU/cm³ at 25°C. Therefore, vB_KpP_HS106 is a promising alternative to antibiotics for biocontrol against multidrug-resistant <i>K. pneumoniae</i> in foods.