Investigation into efficient bacteriophage production for use against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli
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Abstract
Piglets are highly susceptible to infection by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), resulting in severe cases of diarrhea. However, due to the growing resistance to antibiotics, there is a demand for bacteriophages (phages) to serve as an alternative treatment option against ETEC. Unfortunately, no defined method to produce high titer ETEC phages on a large scale has been published, limiting phage usefulness as a therapeutic against this disease. Because of this, the present work focused on optimizing conditions to produce high titers of an ETEC phage, designated ‘Phage75’, by exploring several variables. Variables considered for optimization were multiplicity of infection (MOI), media composition, temperature, harvest time, and alternative host. To screen variables, a high-throughput assay was used to monitor optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of host bacteria since a decrease in OD600 is indicative of cell lysis and therefore phage production. Conditions from these assays were carried out in shake flasks at increasing volumes to determine phage titer, assess scalability, and help define an efficient production strategy. These studies revealed that population-wide lysis and peak titer coincide with each other and that extending production does not yield more phage. Furthermore, comparable titers in the range of 9.45-10.10 log10(PFU/mL) were achieved at different volumes in shake flasks as well as in a CellMaker bioreactor. This suggests the proposed method to produce Phage75 is a robust process and may possibly provide insight to produce other phages in the future. The optimized method for Phage75 is: 4% infection load, 0.0001 MOI, complex media (either LB-Lennox or Select APS) with no ion supplementation, 37°C incubation temperature, and 4-hour harvest time. Additionally, based on alternative hosts tested, it is advised to produce Phage75 on the host it was isolated on to avoid a sacrifice in titer. For phages to become a viable treatment option against bacterial disease, efficient production strategies are needed. To achieve this, investigations into different growth conditions and their impacts on phage production are necessary and of the utmost importance.