Title: Bacteriophage based biocontrol of drug-resistant Enterobacter cloacae
Abstract:
The global emergence of multi-drug resistant Enterobacter cloacae complex is one of the critical threats faced today by health care system as indicated by World Health Organisation. Enterobacter cloacae is one of the most common Enterobacter species amongst the E. cloacae complex and is often found closely associated with Enterobacter asburiae. The recent emergence of carbapenem-resistant E. cloacae complex against last-resort carbapenems has caught the attention of medical professionals and researchers who are now looking for therapeutic alternatives. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. cloacae complex is responsible for a high mortality rate amongst hospitalized patients frequently causing bacteraemia, urinary tract infections, lower respiratory tract infections and others. Exploring alternative antibacterial therapeutic strategies like bacteriophages is of paramount importance. The work presented here describes a novel lytic Siphovirus Enterobacter virus En5822, isolated from an environmental source displaying high lytic activity towards E. cloacae. En5822 bacteriophage showed a short latent period and high burst size. It displayed efficient antibacterial activity against the host in planktonic and biofilm culture. An efficient in reduction of preformed static host biofilm, as well as inhibition of formation of new biofilm by up to 90% was observed. Whole genome sequencing by Nanopore and bioinformatics analysis revealed that En5822 genome does not contain undesirable temperate lifestyle genes, antibiotic resistance genes, toxin-encoding genes, etc. En5822’s lytic activity, specificity, high biofilm dispersive capacity and other physiological parameters against the host offers possibilities for potential development of phage therapy for treatment of drug-resistant E.cloacae infections.