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Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora

Erwinia amylovora is a quarantine phytopathogenic bacterium that is the causal agent of fire blight, a destructive disease responsible for killing millions of fruit-bearing plants worldwide, including apple, pear, quince, and raspberry. Efficient and sustainable control strategies for this serious b...

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Autores principales: Sabri, Miloud, El Handi, Kaoutar, Valentini, Franco, De Stradis, Angelo, Achbani, El Hassan, Benkirane, Rachid, Resch, Grégory, Elbeaino, Toufic
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9698647/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36366553
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v14112455
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author Sabri, Miloud
El Handi, Kaoutar
Valentini, Franco
De Stradis, Angelo
Achbani, El Hassan
Benkirane, Rachid
Resch, Grégory
Elbeaino, Toufic
author_facet Sabri, Miloud
El Handi, Kaoutar
Valentini, Franco
De Stradis, Angelo
Achbani, El Hassan
Benkirane, Rachid
Resch, Grégory
Elbeaino, Toufic
author_sort Sabri, Miloud
collection PubMed
description Erwinia amylovora is a quarantine phytopathogenic bacterium that is the causal agent of fire blight, a destructive disease responsible for killing millions of fruit-bearing plants worldwide, including apple, pear, quince, and raspberry. Efficient and sustainable control strategies for this serious bacterial disease are still lacking, and traditional methods are limited to the use of antibiotics and some basic agricultural practices. This study aimed to contribute to the development of a sustainable control strategy through the identification, characterization, and application of bacteriophages (phages) able to control fire blight on pears. Phages isolated from wastewater collected in the Apulia region (southern Italy) were characterized and evaluated as antibacterial agents to treat experimental fire blight caused by E. amylovora. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) conducted on purified phages (named EP-IT22 for Erwinia phage IT22) showed particles with icosahedral heads of ca. 90 ± 5 nm in length and long contractile tails of 100 ± 10 nm, typical of the Myoviridae family. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), assembly, and analysis of the phage DNA generated a single contig of 174.346 bp representing a complete circular genome composed of 310 open reading frames (ORFs). EP-IT22 was found to be 98.48% identical to the Straboviridae Erwinia phage Cronus (EPC) (GenBank Acc. n° NC_055743) at the nucleotide level. EP-IT22 was found to be resistant to high temperatures (up to 60 °C) and pH values between 4 and 11, and was able to accomplish a complete lytic cycle within one hour. Furthermore, the viability-qPCR and turbidity assays showed that EP-IT22 (MOI = 1) lysed 94% of E. amylovora cells in 20 h. The antibacterial activity of EP-IT22 in planta was evaluated in E. amylovora-inoculated pear plants that remained asymptomatic 40 days post inoculation, similarly to those treated with streptomycin sulphate. This is the first description of the morphological, biological, and molecular features of EP-IT22, highlighting its promising potential for biocontrol of E. amylovora against fire blight disease.
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spelling pubmed-96986472022-11-26 Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora Sabri, Miloud El Handi, Kaoutar Valentini, Franco De Stradis, Angelo Achbani, El Hassan Benkirane, Rachid Resch, Grégory Elbeaino, Toufic Viruses Article Erwinia amylovora is a quarantine phytopathogenic bacterium that is the causal agent of fire blight, a destructive disease responsible for killing millions of fruit-bearing plants worldwide, including apple, pear, quince, and raspberry. Efficient and sustainable control strategies for this serious bacterial disease are still lacking, and traditional methods are limited to the use of antibiotics and some basic agricultural practices. This study aimed to contribute to the development of a sustainable control strategy through the identification, characterization, and application of bacteriophages (phages) able to control fire blight on pears. Phages isolated from wastewater collected in the Apulia region (southern Italy) were characterized and evaluated as antibacterial agents to treat experimental fire blight caused by E. amylovora. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) conducted on purified phages (named EP-IT22 for Erwinia phage IT22) showed particles with icosahedral heads of ca. 90 ± 5 nm in length and long contractile tails of 100 ± 10 nm, typical of the Myoviridae family. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), assembly, and analysis of the phage DNA generated a single contig of 174.346 bp representing a complete circular genome composed of 310 open reading frames (ORFs). EP-IT22 was found to be 98.48% identical to the Straboviridae Erwinia phage Cronus (EPC) (GenBank Acc. n° NC_055743) at the nucleotide level. EP-IT22 was found to be resistant to high temperatures (up to 60 °C) and pH values between 4 and 11, and was able to accomplish a complete lytic cycle within one hour. Furthermore, the viability-qPCR and turbidity assays showed that EP-IT22 (MOI = 1) lysed 94% of E. amylovora cells in 20 h. The antibacterial activity of EP-IT22 in planta was evaluated in E. amylovora-inoculated pear plants that remained asymptomatic 40 days post inoculation, similarly to those treated with streptomycin sulphate. This is the first description of the morphological, biological, and molecular features of EP-IT22, highlighting its promising potential for biocontrol of E. amylovora against fire blight disease. MDPI 2022-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9698647/ /pubmed/36366553 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v14112455 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sabri, Miloud
El Handi, Kaoutar
Valentini, Franco
De Stradis, Angelo
Achbani, El Hassan
Benkirane, Rachid
Resch, Grégory
Elbeaino, Toufic
Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title_full Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title_fullStr Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title_full_unstemmed Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title_short Identification and Characterization of Erwinia Phage IT22: A New Bacteriophage-Based Biocontrol against Erwinia amylovora
title_sort identification and characterization of erwinia phage it22: a new bacteriophage-based biocontrol against erwinia amylovora
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9698647/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36366553
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v14112455
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