Escherichia coli ST155 as a production-host of three different polyvalent phages and their characterisation with a prospect for wastewater disinfection

Bacteriophages are generally specific, and a cocktail of phages is needed to combat different bacterial targets. Their production usually requires pathogenic isolation hosts. We identified a novel strain, Escherichia coli ST155, that could serve as a production host for three different polyvalent phages (ϕPh_SE03, ϕPh_SD01, and ϕPh_EC01), thus superseding the use of individual isolation hosts. Upon propagation in E. coli ST155, the phages demonstrated differential intergeneric infectivity against Salmonella enterica, E. coli OP50, Shigella dysenteriae, E. coli MDR, and Acinetobacter baumannii.