Diverse Bacteriophages Infecting the Bacterial Striped Catfish Pathogen .

Bacteriophages infecting have been less investigated, although the host bacterium is one of the most important fish pathogens causing enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC). We present here two distinctly novel bacteriophages vB_EiM_PVN06 and vB_EiA_PVN09 infecting E1, with their geographical origins from the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Bacteriophage vB_EiM_PVN06 native to a mud sample reveals complete differences of biological properties with the phage vB_EiA_PVN09 originated from a viscus of a healthy catfish () cultured in the same area. Morphological analyses combined with genomic data indicate that phage vB_EiM_PVN06 is classified to family and shares high similarity with phage PEi21 genome, while vB_EiA_PVN09 is a member of genus, family, and mostly closes to phage vB_EcoP_IME390. The vB_EiA_PVN09 is a T7-like bacteriophage, which has been firstly found infecting to , and host range analysis also evidences for the cross-infection of this phage to K12 and DH5α. Together, our research highlights the diversity of bacteriophages infecting the pathogen and suggests further explorations of lytic phages in environmental niches, to be exploited in feasible strategies of phage therapy in ESC disease control.