Characterizing lytic bacteriophages against pathogenic E. coli: killing spectrum, efficacy in vivo, and genomic analysis

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Bacterial pathogens of importance to animal health and food safety have major and global impacts on**agriculture and food industries. There has been an increase in bacterial resistance to antimicrobials, and**antibiotic use in livestock and poultry has been questioned due to likelihood of increased antimicrobial**resistance. Alternative strategies to contend with bacterial pathogens within the food production chain are**therefore needed. Lytic bacteriophages (phages) are bacteria-specific viruses that can lyse and kill their**bacterial targets. One of the focuses of SyntBioLab Inc. is to develop applications to control bacterial**pathogens by using phages. Escherichia coli is a major problem for food safety and animal health. In particular,**in poultry (chickens and turkeys), avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) is the predominant cause of respiratory and**systemic infection. There are numerous types of E. coli strains that infect poultry, and it is therefore a challenge**to thoroughly characterize phages that will have broad-spectrum activity against a diversity of APEC. During**the NSERC Engage grant, we isolated lytic phages from environmental samples. We demonstrated that certain**phages have a broad killing activity against a variety of APEC strains. The purpose of this proposal is to**continue characterization of these phages by determining efficacy to reduce colonization of young chicks**inoculated with specific APEC strains. We also plan on further characterizing these bacteriophages by genome**sequencing and comparative genomics and electron microscopy. This project will be in close collaboration**with the partner, SyntBioLab Inc., by combining our group's expertise in pathogenic E. coli and chicken**experimental models and the strengths of SyntBioLab Inc., including comparative genomics and**bioinformatics. The overall purpose of the project is to establish the most robust and effective phages and can**reduce colonization of a number of different APEC strains. Reduced numbers of E. coli from feces would**lower the risk of respiratory colibacillosis originating from feces and litter dust. Such bacteriophages could**reduce APEC infections, improve poultry production, and decrease antibiotic usage to treat such infections.