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Characterization of a novel lytic bacteriophage VPMCC14 which efficiently controls Vibrio harveyi in Penaeus monodon culture

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Abstract

Vibrio harveyi causes luminous vibriosis diseases in shrimp, which lead to shrimp mortalities. Considering the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a Vibrio-infecting bacteriophage, VPMCC14, was characterized, and its lysis ability was evaluated on a laboratory scale. VPMCC14 was shown to infect V. harveyi S5A and V. harveyi ATCC 14126. VPMCC14 also exhibited a latent period of 30 min, with a burst size of 38 PFU/cell on its propagation strain. The bacteriophage was stable at a wide range of pHs (3–9), temperatures (0–45°C), and salinities (up to 40 ppt). VPMCC14 exhibited strict virulence properties as the bacteriophage entirely lysed V. harveyi S5A in liquid culture inhibition after 5 h and 4 h at very low MOIs such as MOI 0.1 and MOI 1, respectively. VPMCC14 could control V. harveyi infection in aquariums at MOI 1 and decrease the mortality of Penaeus monodon challenged by V. harveyi. VPMCC14 genome was 134,472 bp long with a 34.5 G+C% content, and 240 open reading frames. A unique characteristic of VPMCC14 was the presence of the HicB family antitoxin-coding open reading frame. Comparative genomic analyses suggested that VPMCC14 could be a representative of a new genus in the Caudoviricetes class. This novel bacteriophage, VPMCC14, could be applied as a biocontrol agent for controlling V. harveyi infection.

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Data availability

The whole genome sequence of Vibrio-infecting bacteriophage VPMCC14 was deposited in GenBank (Accession number ON922990).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India (Sanction Order No. CRG/2019/001750 dated 14th January, 2020) for financial assistance. The authors are thankful to Dr. Pradip Ghosh, Director, Midnapore City College for providing essential support to carry out this work. The authors are thankful to Dr. Rajkumar Bera, Department of Humanities, Midnapore City College for the meticulous correction of the English language of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Midnapore City College, Midnapore, West Bengal, 721129, India

    Priyanka Kar, Smita Ghosh, Sudipta Chakrabarti, Shrabani Pradhan & Kuntal Ghosh

  2. Biodiversity and Environmental Studies Research Center, Midnapore City College affiliated to Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India

    Priyanka Kar & Smita Ghosh

  3. Department of Industrial Fish & Fisheries, Ramnagar College, Depal, Ramnagar, West Bengal, India

    Pijush Payra

  4. Department of Microbiology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India

    Keshab Ch. Mondal

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  1. Priyanka Kar
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Contributions

PK: investigation, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. SG: investigation, methodology, writing—review and editing. PP: investigation, writing—review and editing. SC: formal analysis, writing—review and editing. SP: formal analysis, writing—review and editing. KCM: supervision, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. KG: investigation, methodology, formal analysis, supervision, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Kuntal Ghosh.

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Kar, P., Ghosh, S., Payra, P. et al. Characterization of a novel lytic bacteriophage VPMCC14 which efficiently controls Vibrio harveyi in Penaeus monodon culture. Int Microbiol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-023-00456-9

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