Listeria virus P100

Listeria virus P100 targets Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterial pathogen responsible for listeriosis. Listeria monocytogenes is the only human pathogen that causes Listeriosis. Unlike most phages infecting bacteria in the genus Listeria, Listeria virus P100 is a virulent phage. This means that it destroys the host cell through lysis which is when the membrane of a cell is broken down. This makes phage P100 absolutely lethal to Listeria after infection. Additionally, P100 has a very large host range, which accounts for over 95% of all bacteria types within Listeria that appear in food. == Treatment potential ==

In the US, there are around 1600 Listerosis cases and 260 fatalities. Listeriosis is most commonly observed in immunocompromised, pregnant, elderly or young people. Listeria monocytogenes can grow on a variety of foods, such as cheese, meat, poultry, vegetables, and seafood. Listeria monocytogenes may even be detected on surfaces that have had contact with the previously mentioned foods. Listeria virus P100 has been shown to be generally stable under storage conditions. Listeria virus P100 is a key component to the food additive Listex P100, which has received GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status by the US food and drug administration and is currently approved for use in the European Union as well. PhageGuard is a company that developed an organic, FDA approved product to combat Listeria. The company prides themselves on not affecting the smell, texture or taste of the food they use their product on while eliminating Listeria monocytogenes. == Genome ==

Its linear genome contains 131,385 base pairs that encode 174 open reading frames and 18 tRNAs. == References ==