Isolation, characterization, and genome sequencing analysis of a novel phage HBW-1 of Salmonella

Zenghai Jiang; Muhammad Umar Yaqoob; Yaohui Xu; Abubakar Siddique; Shuqi Lin; Siyu Hu; Abdelaziz Ed-Dra; Min Yue

doi:10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107327

Isolation, characterization, and genome sequencing analysis of a novel phage HBW-1 of Salmonella

Microb Pathog. 2025 Jan 23:107327. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107327. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zenghai Jiang¹, Muhammad Umar Yaqoob², Yaohui Xu¹, Abubakar Siddique³, Shuqi Lin¹, Siyu Hu¹, Abdelaziz Ed-Dra⁴, Min Yue⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan University of Animal Husbandry and Economy, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
² Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Food Safety, Zhejiang University College of Animal Sciences, Hangzhou 310058, China; Provincial Key Agricultural Enterprise Research Institute of King Techina, Hangzhou King Techina Feed Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 311107, China.
³ Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Food Safety, Zhejiang University College of Animal Sciences, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁴ Laboratory of Engineering and Applied Technologies, Higher School of Technology, M'ghila Campus, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, BP: 591, Beni Mellal 23000, Morocco.
⁵ Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Food Safety, Zhejiang University College of Animal Sciences, Hangzhou 310058, China; Hainan Institute of Zhejiang University, Sanya 572025, China; Key Laboratory of Systems Health Science of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Science, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China. Electronic address: myue@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 39863088
DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107327

Abstract

Salmonella presents a significant threat to the health of animals and humans, especially with the rise of strains resistant to multiple drugs. This highlights the necessity for creating sustainable and efficient practical approaches to managing salmonellosis. The most recent and safest approach to combat antimicrobial resistance-associated infections is lytic bacteriophages. This study recovered a Salmonella-specific phage HBW-1 from sewage and faecal samples from commercial chicken farms in Henan, China. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the phage possesses a polyhedral head and a tailed structure characteristic of bacteriophages. The phage HBW-1 exhibited favorable stability when subjected to elevated temperatures between 30°C and 60°C and pH levels between 3 and 12 for 1 hour. The phage genome consists of double-stranded, circular DNA with a size of 43,095 bp and a GC content of 49.54%. Notably, phage HBW-1 contains 62 genes encoding proteins and does not contain virulence or resistance genes commonly found in bacteria. Phage spectrum analysis indicates that the phage HBW-1 is strictly a lytic, exhibiting antibacterial activity against Salmonella pullorum (100%, n=11), Salmonella typhimurium (92.86%, n=42) and Salmonella enteritidis (58.97%, n=39). Therefore, this study suggests that phage HBW-1 holds promise as a potential alternative for prevention and control of salmonellosis.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Pullorum disease; Salmonella; food control; genome sequencing; phage therapy.