Prevalence of Bacillus cereus bacteriophages in fermented foods and characterization of phage JBP901

Bacillus cereus is widely distributed in the environment and is responsible for foodborne illnesses, causing diarrhea and vomiting. In this study, the prevalence of B. cereus bacteriophages in Korean fermented foods was studied using 6 reference strains, and JBP901 was further characterized. In a total of 47 samples, 19 (40.4%) contained more than one kind of B. cereus phage. Fourteen phages were purified and determined for host lysis profile. Among them, JBP901 was specific to B. cereus group strains (forming plaques in 13 of 14 isolates) and not able to lyse other tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains including Bacillus subtilis. Transmission electron microscopy analysis suggested that JBP901 is a member of the family Myoviridae. Restriction enzyme digestion pattern analysis and one-step growth study indicated a genome size of approximately 150 kbp and a burst size of 100. Furthermore, bacterial lysis studies revealed that JBP901 could be used to control the growth of B. cereus in liquid culture and in food. This is the first report to examine the prevalence of phages in fermented foods in Korea, and suggests that fermented foods are useful sources of B. cereus phage isolation; moreover, B. cereus phages could provide an additional tool to tackle problems associated with B. cereus contamination.