ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicBiofilm Control for Food Safety: From Processing to PackagingView all 4 articles
Penetrating the Biofilm Barrier: Characterization of Escherichia Phage vB_EcoS-TPF103dw and Harnessing Depolymerase to Combat Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli O103 Biofilm
Provisionally accepted
- Western Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Albany, United States
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Abstract Introduction: Besides Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157:H7, non-O157 STEC strains, such as O103, have been linked to outbreaks in meat, dairy, and produce. This study aimed to characterize and evaluate the newly isolated Tequintavirus phage, vB_EcoS-TPF103dw, as an intervention against STEC O103 biofilm. Methods: Phage vB_EcoS-TPF103dw isolated from chicken feces, was sequenced and biologically characterized. Antimicrobial activity was tested in vitro and against O103 biofilm on stainless steel. Biofilm disruption was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results: TPF103dw, belonging to the Tequintavirus genus, has a latent period of approximately 50 minutes, with an estimated burst size of 232 PFU/cell, and is stable over a wide range of pH (pH 5 to pH 10) and temperature (4 to 60°C). Phage TPF103dw encoded four high-probability (>90%) depolymerase candidates. The results showed filtrate containing soluble phage-derived enzymes alone were sufficient to dismantle the extracellular polysaccharide layer, as confirmed by SEM. Phage application against STEC O103 biofilm on stainless-steel coupons for 30 minutes resulted in a significant STEC O103 reduction of 0.83 log CFU/coupon. Discussion: The findings of this study provide insights into a novel Tequintavirus phage, vB_EcoS-TPF103dw, and demonstrate its genomic diversity, predicted depolymerase-encoding potential, stability under variable conditions, and antimicrobial efficacy against STEC O103 biofilms in vitro.
Keywords: Biofilm, STEC, E. coli O103, Depolymerase, Bacteriophage
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 11 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Campos, LIAO, Harden, Zhang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Vivian C.H. Wu, vivian.wu@usda.gov
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