Isolation of Four Mycobacteriophages from Oklahoma Soil and Testing Their Infectivity Against Mycobacterium abscessus

Abstract

Mycobacteriophages are phages that infect genus mycobacteria. Mycobacteriophages have potential application in phage-based diagnostic and phage therapy for identification and treatment of diseases caused by pathogenic mycobacteria. Four mycobacteriophages: Irak (IR), Fulbright (F), Ibrahim (IB), and Ahmed (A) were isolated from soil samples collected from different locations from the University of Central Oklahoma campus using Mycobacterium megmatis
mc2155 as a host. The genomic DNA of the purified phages was subjected to restriction digest using BamH1, Cla1, EcoR1, HaeIII, and HindIII enzymes. The restriction digestion patterns of the four phage genomes were distinct. Fulbright and Ibrahim phage genomes have been sequenced with genome lengths of 42396 (bp) and 42596 (bp) respectively. The ability of the four viruses to infect
Mycobacterium abscessus was determined using the spot test. Here, we also report the isolation of a mycobacteriophage Fulbright from the Oklahoma soil which can infect Mycobacterium abscessus. Transmission electron microscopy showed that all phages have siphoviridae morphology with isometric heads and flexible, non-contractile tails.