Avaliação da capacidade do fago M-13 que expressa peptídeos ligantes de Salmonella Typhimurium reconhecer esse sorovar em amostras de carcaças de frango

Abstract

Salmonellosis is a common bacterial disease in commercial poultry operations, and controlling it is crucial for maintaining the productivity and well-being of the animals. Previously, the use of antibiotics was prevalent for controlling such bacterium, but with the increasing resistance of the pathogen to these drugs, alternative control methods for Salmonella spp. are now necessary. With the scientific advancement of biotechnology, it is now possible to characterize bacteriophages in laboratory studies for potential use in production to directly combat the targeted bacteria. This study aimed to identify the ability of the M-13 bacteriophage with specific peptide selection to recognize Salmonella Typhimurium ligands on chicken carcass surfaces. Using the biopanning technique, bacteriophages with Salmonella Typhimurium ligands, namely B4 and E6, were selected and amplified. Confirmed Salmonella strains were used to contaminate chicken carcass samples, which were then used to sensitize an ELISA plate. The B4 and E6 bacteriophages, along with a wild-type M-13 phage as a control, were added for phage-ELISA analysis. The reaction was analyzed descriptively, and logistic regression was used to analyze the area under the curve (AUC) and the likelihood ratio. The results showed a higher interaction of bacteriophages B4 and E6 with chicken carcass samples contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium, with log-Likelihood Ratio values of 21.9 (p<0.0001) and 15.27 (p<0.0001), respectively, and AUC values of 92.16% (p<0.0001) and 87.45% (p<0.0003), respectively. The wild-type M-13 phage had a lower interaction with other Salmonella spp. serovars (Enteritidis, Dublin, Heidelberg, Gallinarum, Minnesota, Infantis, Newport, Pullorum e Salim) and pure chicken carcass samples. Therefore, it was concluded that a specificity was established between the selected phage B4 for the recognition of Salmonella Typhimurium in chicken carcass samples, which can be applied in future studies to mitigate the presence of Salmonella Typhimurium in poultry production.