Morphological and genetic analysis of three bacteriophages of Serratia marcescens isolated from environmental water.

Increases in multidrug-resistant strains of Serratia marcescens are of great concern in pediatrics, especially in neonatal intensive care units. In the search for bacteriophages to control infectious diseases caused by multidrug-resistant S. marcescens, three phages (KSP20, KSP90, and KSP100) were isolated from environmental water and were characterized morphologically and genetically. KSP20 and KSP90 belonged to morphotype A1 of the family Myoviridae, and KSP100 belonged to morphotype C3 of the family Podoviridae. Analysis of the DNA region coding virion proteins, together with their morphological features, indicated that KSP20, KSP90, and KSP100 were related to the P2-like phage (temperate), T4-type phage (virulent), and phiEco32 phage (virulent), respectively. Based on amino acid sequences of the major capsid protein, KSP90 formed a new branch with a Stenotrophomonas maltophilia phage, Smp14, in the T4-type phage phylogeny. Both Smp14 and phiEco32 have been reported as potential therapeutic phages. These results suggest that KSP90 and KSP100 may be candidate therapeutic phages to control S. marcescens infection.