Characterization and Antibacterial Potential of Escherichia Phage CMSTMSU Isolated from Shrimp Farm Effluent Water

Escherichia phage CMSTMSU was isolated from a semi-intensive shrimp farm, and it demonstrated strong lytic activity against Escherichia coli. Further, the phage was purified, determined the titer value, and, expressed as plaque-forming units per milliliter (pfu/mL). A biofilm inhibition study was performed in high-density polyethylene against E. coli cells by applying phages at different concentrations. The results were viewed using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results revealed that Escherichia phage CMSTMSU efficiently inhibited the E. coli's biofilm formation and evidenced that the weaker signals observed increasing concentration of pfu. To study the structural morphology, a transmission electron microscope was used and the results revealed that the phage head has a hexagonal shape measuring approximately 220-230 nm with a non-contractile tail belonging to the Siphoviridae family. The spectrophotometric experiment was conducted to examine the phage's killing effectiveness and the results revealed that after three hours, the phage destroyed the E. coli cells at a significant level (P <  = 0.001) in the liquid culture. The stability of Escherichia phage CMSTMSU was examined at various temperature and pH ranges. The stability studies showed that the phage was stable at temperatures of 40 and 50 °C and pH levels of 5 to 9 respectively and significantly (P <  = 0.001) varied. Finally, the growth curve was performed by measuring burst time and burst size, burst phases ranged from 20 to 140 min and the burst size progressively increased significantly (P < 0.05) as the time increased. The Escherichia phage CMSTMSU may be helpful for phage therapy against pathogenic E. coli because of its lytic capability.