Paving the way forward: Escherichia coli bacteriophages in a One Health approach

Abstract

Escherichia coli is one of the most notorious pathogens for its ability to adapt, colonize, and proliferate in different habitats through a multitude of acquired virulence factors. Its presence affects the food-processing industry and causes food poisoning, being also a major economic burden for the food, agriculture, and health sectors. Bacteriophages are emerging as an appealing strategy to mitigate bacterial pathogens, including specific E. coli pathovars, without exerting a deleterious effect on humans and animals. This review globally analyzes the applied research on E. coli phages for veterinary, food, and human use. It starts by describing the pathogenic E. coli pathotypes and their relevance in human and animal context. The idea that phages can be used as a One Health approach to control and interrupt the transmission routes of pathogenic E. coli is sustained through an exhaustive revision of the recent literature. The emerging phage formulations, genetic engineering and encapsulation technologies are also discussed as a means of improving phage-based control strategies, with a particular focus on E. coli pathogens.

Keywords:

• E. coli
• pathovars
• Bacteriophage
• antibacterial agents
• one health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by project PhageSTEC PTDC/CVT-CVT/29628/2017 [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029628] funded by FEDER through COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização, POCI) and by National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and also by the project SusPhage [POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033679], funded by FEDER through COMPETE 2020 (POCI). The study was also supported by FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of unit UIDB/04469/2020 and the BioTecNorte operation [NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004], funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 —Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. S.S. acknowledges funding by FCT through the individual scientific employment program contract [2020.03171.CEECIND].