Genomic similarities and contrasts are investigated in a collection of 23 bacteriophages, including phages with temperate, lytic, and parasitic life histories, with varied sequence organizations and with different hosts and with different morphologies. Comparisons use relative abundances of di-, tri-, and tetranucleotides from entire genomes. We highlight several specific findings. (i) As previ...

Forty strains of Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) subspecies salamae (II), arizonae (IIIa), diarizonae (IIIb), and houtenae (IV) were isolated from human or environmental samples and tested for bacteriophage production. Production of bacteriophages was observed in 15 S. enterica strains (37.5%) belonging to either the subspecies salamae (8 strains) or diarizonae (7 strains). Activity of phages...

Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are important food-borne pathogens that are widespread in animal husbandry. To combat Campylobacter along the food chain, the application of lytic phages has been shown to be a promising tool. Campylobacter phages are currently classified into three groups, of which group II and group III phages are the most common. Members of each group are closely related, whe...

Bacteriophages or phages are the viruses that infect bacteria. Phages like all viruses are made up of a nucleic acid core which is surrounded by a protein coat. The majority of phages are known to contain DNA but some contain RNA also. In this study, four salmonella phages were isolated and were subjected to molecular characterization. All the four Salmonella phages were found to contain DNA as...

The gut microbiota plays an essential role in health and disease of humans. Bacteriophages are the most abundant members of the gut virobiota and display great diversity. Phages can translocate through the mucosa to lymph and internal organs and play a role as regulators of the bacterial population in the gut. Increasing abundance of phages in the gut mucosa may reduce colonization by bacteria....

Bacteriophage therapy, the use of viruses that infect bacteria as antimicrobials, has been championed as a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. Although in the laboratory bacterial resistance against phages arises rapidly, resistance so far has been an only minor problem for the effectiveness of phage therapy. Resistance to antibiotics, however, has become a major issue after deca...

Bacteriophages UAB_Phi20, UAB_Phi78, and UAB_Phi87 were encapsulated in liposomes, and their efficacy in reducing Salmonella in poultry was then studied. The encapsulated phages had a mean diameter of 309 to 326 nm and a positive charge between +31.6 and +35.1 mV (pH 6.1). In simulated gastric fluid (pH 2.8), the titer of nonencapsulated phages decreased by 5.7 to 7.8 log units, whereas encapsu...

Graphical Abstract Phages infecting Bacteroides fragilis strain GB-124 and non-source specific somatic coliphages (SOMCPH) were deployed for identification of fecal contamination pathways in Kolkata, India. Analyses environmental samples representative nine different exposure pathways, pooled sewage from shared community toilets pumping stations showed the presence both SOMCPH phages all sample...

The frequencies of cells containing mature phages, the burst sizes, the phage head sizes and the distribution of phages inside cells of different bacterial morphotypes were investigated in the northern Adriatic Sea. Coccoid bacteria more frequently (2 .5%) contained mature phages than rodshaped bacteria (1.2%) and spirillae (1.4 %). Including an estimation of non-v~sible infection we found that...

Leuconostoc (Ln.), Weissella, and Oenococcus form a group of related genera of lactic acid bacteria, which once all shared the name Leuconostoc. They are associated with plants, fermented vegetable products, raw milk, dairy products, meat, and fish. Most of industrially relevant Leuconostoc strains can be classified as either Ln. mesenteroides or Ln. pseudomesenteroides. They are important flav...