Isolation and characterization of a podovirus infecting the opportunist pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus

•Phage vB_ValP_IME234 is a novel virulent phage belonging to the podoviridae family, which can infect both V. alginolyticus and vibrio parahaemolyticus.•No integrase gene was detected, suggesting the phage is not temperate — which is important for application.•There were lysis genes and no antibiotic resistance or potential virulence genes in phage vB_ValP_IME234 genome, so this phage may serve as potential agents for phage therapy. Bacterial infections have a negative impact on both animal husbandry industry and medicine, and increasing bacterial drug resistance exacerbates this adverse impact. Phages show promise as an alternative to drugs against drug-resistant bacteria. In this study, a novel virulent bacteriophage (phage) vB_ValP_IME234 against Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus was isolated from freshwater in Beijing, China. Phage vB_ValP_IME234 had an isometric head (59 nm in diameter) and a short tail (10 nm long), belonging to Podoviridae family. Its complete genome is liner double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) with a GC content of 41.6% while encoding 61 putative proteins. Three transfer RNA (tRNA) and no lysogenic gene was detected. vB_ValP_IME234 had a polyvalent infectivity, a burst of 390 PFU/cell, and is stable under different temperatures (4 °C to 50 °C) and pH (6.0 to 10.0) values. Host range test showed that vB_ValP_IME234 has the ability to infect seven strains of Vibrio in total. Phylogenetic analyses based on terminase and capsid suggested that this phage had a close relationship with Vibrio phages. These results indicate that vB_ValP_IME234 could be used as a potential biocontrol agent against V. alginolyticus strains.