Abstract
Bacteriophages could be a useful adjunct to antibiotics for the treatment of multidrug-resistant
infections. In this study, lytic
myoviruses PsCh, PsIn, Ps25, and Ps12on-D were isolated from Tunisian sewage samples. Phage Ps12on-D displayed an adsorption time of ~10 min, a short latency period (~10 min), and a large burst size (~115 PFU per infected cell) under standard growth conditions. All phages were active at broad temperature (4 °C to 50 °C) and pH (3.0 to 11.0) ranges and were able to lyse a wide variety of
strains isolated from clinical and environmental samples worldwide. Illumina sequencing revealed double-stranded DNA genomes ranging from 87,887 and 92,710 bp with high sequence identity to
phage PAK_P1. All four phages based on sequence analysis were assigned to the
genus. The presented characterization and preclinical assessment are part of an effort to establish phage therapy treatment as an alternative strategy for the management of multidrug-resistant
infections in Tunisia.