Isolation and characterization of temperate phages in enterococcus faecium from sprouts

Abstract

To analyze the characteristics of bacteriophages in Enterococcus faecium, D-19 and F6 phages were induced from five E. faecium isolated from sprouts by the treatment with mitomycin C. The bacteriophages of D-19 and F-6 had long, non-contractile tails and icosahedral heads, and were members of Siphoviridae family. As the host spectrum, D-19 phage lysed five out of 55 strains of E. faecium, whereas F6 phage lysed only three strains. Both D-19 and F6 phages displayed similar and high stabilities against ethanol and pH capable of resisting the exposure to 100% ethanol and pH 4. © The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology.