Significance of bacteriophages in fermented soybeans: A review.

Bacteriophages are ubiquitous and have been reported to have been found in many food products. Their presence is important as they have the ability to interact with their bacterial host in food matrices. Fermented soybean products, one of the most widely consumed ethnic foods among Asian people, are prepared naturally and include Japanese Natto, Indian Kinema, Korean Chongkukjang and Thai Thua Nao. This review highlights bacteriophages which have been isolated from fermented soybean products and also includes an overview of their diversity, occurrence as well as their significance.

Evaluation of lytic bacteriophages for control of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria can cause serious clinical and public health problems. This study describes the possibility of using bacteriophages as an alternative agent to control multidrug-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium. METHODS: The potential lytic bacteriophages (P22-B1, P22, PBST10, PBST13, PBST32, and PBST 35) were characterized by morphological property, heat and pH stability, optimum multiplicity of infection (MOI), and lytic activity against S. Typhimurium KCCM 40253, S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585, ciprofloxacin-induced antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585, and S. Typhimurium CCARM 8009. RESULTS: P22-B1 and P22 belong to Podoviridae family and PBST10, PBST13, PBST32, and PBST 35 show a typical structure with polyhedral head and long tail, belonging to Siphoviridae family. Salmonella bacteriophages were highly stable at the temperatures (< 60 °C) and pHs (5.0-11.0). The reduction rates of host cells were increased at the MOI-dependent manner, showing the highest reduction rate at MOI of 10. The host cells were most effectively reduced by P22, while P22-B1 showed the least lytic activity. The ciprofloxacin-induced antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585, and clinically isolated antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium CCARM 8009 were resistant to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, norfloxacin, and tetracycline. P22 showed the highest lytic activity against S. Typhimurium KCCM 40253 (> 5 log reduction), followed by S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585 (4 log reduction) and ciprofloxacin-induced antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium ATCC 19585 (4 log reduction). CONCLUSION: The results would provide vital insights into the application of lytic bacteriophages as an alternative therapeutics for the control of multidrug-resistant pathogens.

In vitro assessment of the susceptibility of planktonic and attached cells of foodborne pathogens to bacteriophage p22-mediated salmonella lysates.

This study was designed to evaluate the lytic activity of bacteriophage P22 against Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 19585 (Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-)) at various multiplicities of infections (MOIs), the susceptibility of preattached Salmonella cells against bacteriophage P22, and the effect of P22-mediated bacterial lysates (extracellular DNA) on the attachment ability of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ATCC 700927 to surfaces. The numbers of attached Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-) cells were effectively reduced to below the detection limit (1 log CFU/ml) at the fixed inoculum levels of 3 × 10(-) CFU/ml (MOI = 3.12) and 3 × 10(3) CFU/ml (MOI = 4.12) by bacteriophage P22. The attached Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-) cells remained more than 2 log CFU/ml, with increasing inoculum levels from 3 × 10(4) to 3 × 10(7) CFU/ml infected with 4 × 10(8) PFU/ml of P22. The number of preattached Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-) cells was noticeably reduced by 2.72 log in the presence of P22. The highest specific attachment ability values for Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-), Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 23555 carrying P22 prophage (Salmonella Typhimurium P22(+)), L. monocytogenes, and enterohemorrhagic E. coli were 2.09, 1.06, 1.86, and 1.08, respectively, in the bacteriophage-mediated cell-free supernatants (CFS) containing high amounts of extracellular DNA. These results suggest that bacteriophages could potentially be used to effectively eliminate planktonic and preattached Salmonella Typhimurium P22(-) cells with increasing MOI. However, further research is needed to understand the role of bacteriophage-induced lysates in bacterial attachment, which can provide useful information for the therapeutic use of bacteriophage in the food system.