Characterization of two bacteriophages for specific treatment of biofilm formed by a Vibrio sp. isolated from an abalone farm

Vibrio harveyi and related vibrios are potential pathogens causing luminous vibriosis in marine aquaculture systems. In this study, two lytic phages P4A and P4F isolated using Vibrio strains B4A and B4F as indicator bacteria, respectively, were isolated from seawater of an abalone farm. Vibrio strain B4F belongs to the Harveyi clade of the genus Vibrio and was found to cause mortality of abalones in laboratory microcosms. Both phages were able to lyse Vibrio strain B4F. Electron microscopy revealed that phage P4A had an icosahedral head while P4F possessed an elongated hexagonal head. Both phages belong to the family Siphoviridae with long non‐contractile tails. Restriction endonuclease analysis indicated that both phages were double‐stranded DNA viruses and the genome sizes of P4A and P4F were estimated to be about 49 and 44 kb respectively. One‐step growth curves revealed that these two phages exhibited distinct latent periods, exponential periods and burst sizes by infecting the same Vibrio strain B4F. Both phages were able to significantly reduce Vibrio population density in biofilm formed by Vibrio strain B4F on the surface of polyethylene film. It is suggested that these two phages may be promising candidates as biocontrol agents of infections caused by Vibrio strains belonging to the Haveyi clade in marine aquaculture systems.