Inactivation of Escherichia coli phages by PEF treatment and analysis of inactivation mechanism

• PEF treatment could inactivated E. coli phage without dependence on the phage form.
• No degradation of total protein and genomic DNA of λ phage was detected.
• E. coli phage was inactivated easier than E. coli cell during the PEF treatment.
• Phage was inactivated by PEF treatment without complete inactivation of E. coli cell.

Inactivation of phage by pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment using Escherichia coli phages (M13mp18 and λ phage) as the phage particle model was studied. E. coli phages were successfully inactivated, and the absence of degradation of biological molecules was confirmed by electrophoretic analysis of these molecules from the inactivated phages. The comparison of sensitivity to PEF treatment between the E. coli phage and the E. coli cells was also carried out. The E. coli phages were more sensitive to the PEF treatment than the E. coli cells, and this difference allowed the preferential inactivation of E. coli phages.