Characterization and Complete Genomic Analysis of a Novel Bacteriophage BUCT775 for Acinetobacter baumannii and Its Elimination Efficiency in the Environment

作者：Yuxuan Liu, Yunfei Huang, Dongxiang Zhu, Lefei Zhang, Jianwei Zhang, Yigang Tong, Mengzhe Li · 发表于：International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/ijms26157279 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Bacteriophages and microbial interactions、Microbial infections and disease research、Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for a range of severe infections and nosocomial outbreaks. Phage-based therapy and biocontrol represent effective strategies to combat the prevalence of A. baumannii. This study reports a novel phage, BUCT775, capable of specifically lysing A. baumannii, and investigates its physiological properties, genomic characteristics, in vivo therapeutic efficacy, and environmental disinfection performance. Phage BUCT775 is a podovirus that forms clear, well-defined plaques with an average diameter of 2.5 ± 0.52 mm. It exhibits a broad range of temperature stability (4–55 °C) and pH stability (pH 3–12). The optimal multiplicity of infection (MOI) for phage BUCT775 is 0.01. At an MOI of 0.01, it demonstrates a latent period of approximately 10 min and exhibits a high burst size. Genomic sequencing and bioinformatics analysis revealed that phage BUCT775 belongs to the order Caudoviricetes and the family Autographiviridae. Its genome has a G + C content of 39.3% and is not known to contain virulence genes or antibiotic resistance genes. Phage BUCT775 exhibited significant therapeutic effects on A. baumannii-infected G. mellonella larvae, increasing the 120 h survival rate of the larvae by 20%. Additionally, phage BUCT775 efficiently eliminated A. baumannii in the environment, with an average clearance rate exceeding 98% within 3 h. These studies suggest that phage BUCT775 holds significant potential for applic...