About this Research Topic

Background

Non-typhoidal Salmonella, is an important pathogen which causes gastroenteritis in humans. The pathogen is readily transmitted via contaminated water and food, especially through undercooked poultry and pork products, and thus, poses a significant global public health concern.

Surveillance strategies, food, water and hand hygiene practices, pre- and post-slaughter interventions and antibiotic usage are important measures aimed at controlling the infection. However, diverse Salmonella serovars encode several virulence indicators in their genomes which affect the bacterial pathogenicity and physiology, and are multidrug resistant to many frontline antibiotics, including colistin.

To effectively control Salmonella infection in animals and humans, innovative strategies targeting important and prevalent serovars are urgently needed. In addition to control, it is essential to ascertain important factors that drive the spread of key virulence determinants that influence Salmonella pathogenicity, diversity and evolution of strains that are responsible for local and international infection outbreaks.

Several bacteriophages (phages) specifically target and infect Salmonella leading to outcomes of either a lysis (by lytic phages) or lysogeny (by temperate phages). These interactions can be harnessed to either control Salmonella growth or to explore their roles in driving the emergence of pathogenic strains through horizontal gene transfer, respectively.

In this Research Topic we welcome Correction, Editorial, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systematic Review, Technology and Code in the areas of:

1. Isolation and characterisation of novel phages or phage-derived products that can effectively target and lyse important Salmonella serovars

2. Interaction of phages or phage-derived products with Salmonella: genetic, proteomic and metagenomic studies

3. Therapeutic studies on the safety and efficacy of lytic phages or phage-derived products in the control of Salmonella in model systems - in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies

4. Synergic effects of phage/antibiotic use in Salmonella control

5. Formulation of phages for therapeutic use to improve target delivery, stability and storage

6. Impact of temperate phages/prophages on Salmonella physiology, pathogenicity, diversity, evolution and surveillance

7. Phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer - the role of phages towards generalised transduction in Salmonella spp.

Keywords: Salmonella, Bacteriophage therapy, phage derived products, Salmonella infection models, transduction

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