Cholera, caused by pathogenic Vibrio cholerae, poses a significant public health risk through water and food transmission. Biofilm-associated V. cholerae plays a crucial role in seasonal cholera outbreaks as both a reservoir in aquatic environments and a direct source of human infection. Although VP3, a lytic phage, shows promise in eliminating planktonic V. cholerae from the aquatic environment, its effectiveness against biofilm-associated V. cholerae is limited. To address this limitation, our proposed approach aims to enhance the efficacy of VP3 in eliminating biofilm-associated V. cholerae by augmenting the availability of phage receptors on the surface of Vibrio cholerae. TolC is a receptor of VP3 and a salt efflux pump present in many bacteria. In this study, we employed NaCl as an enhancer to stimulate TolC expression and observed a significant enhancement of TolC expression in both planktonic and biofilm cells of V. cholerae. This enhancement led to improved adsorption of VP3. Importantly, our findings provide strong evidence that high salt concentrations combined with VP3 significantly improve the elimination of biofilm-associated V. cholerae. This approach offers a potential strategy to eliminate biofilm-formation bacteria by enhancing phage–host interaction.

CTXΦ is a lysogenic filamentous phage that carries the genes encoding cholera toxin (ctxAB), the main virulence factor of Vibrio cholerae. The toxigenic conversion of environmental V. cholerae strains through CTXΦ lysogenic infection is crucial for the emergence of new pathogenic clones. A special allelic form of CTXΦ, called pre-CTXΦ, is a precursor of CTXΦ and without ctxAB. Different members of the pre-CTXΦ and CTXΦ families are distinguished by the sequence of the transcriptional repressor-coding gene rstR. Multiple rstR alleles can coexist within a single strain, demonstrating the diverse structure and complex genomic integration patterns of CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ prophage on the chromosome. Exploration of the diversity and co-integration patterns of CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ prophages in V. cholerae can help to understand the evolution of this phage family. In this study, 21 V. cholerae strains, which were shown to carry the CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ prophages as opposed to typical CTX^ETΦ-RS1 structure, were selected from approximately 1000 strains with diverse genomes. We identified two CTXΦ members and six pre-CTXΦ members with distinct rstR alleles, revealing complex chromosomal DNA integration patterns and arrangements of different prophages in these strains. Promoter activity assays showed that the transcriptional repressor RstR protected against CTXΦ superinfection by preventing the replication and integration of CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ phages containing the same rstR allele, supporting the co-integration of the diverse CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ members observed. The numbers and types of prophages and their co-integration arrangements in serogroup O139 strains were more complex than those in serogroup O1 strains. Also, these CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ members were shown to present the bloom period of the CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ family during wave 2 of the seventh cholera pandemic. Together, these analyses deepen our comprehension of the genetic variation of CTXΦ and pre-CTXΦ and provide insights into the evolution of the CTXΦ/pre-CTXΦ family in the seventh cholera pandemic.

Polymyxins, including polymyxin B (PMB), are last-resort antibiotics against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections in humans and livestock. Residual polymyxins from wastewater and manure can accumulate in soil, facilitating the emergence and spread of polymyxin resistance. Paenibacillus polymyxa, a natural polymyxin producer used in crop cultivation, may increase soil polymyxin burden. Since PMB strongly adsorbs to soil, its reliable quantification has been challenging. To address this, the extraction solvent and solid-phase extraction procedure were optimized to improve recovery and reduce matrix effects. We developed and validated a UPLC-MS/MS method to quantify PMB in soil. The method showed linearity (10–1000 ng/g), with a limit of detection of 0.86 ng/g and a limit of quantification of 2.12 ng/g. Method validation confirmed acceptable analytical performance. A 28-day monitoring of PMB in soil inoculated with varying P. polymyxa doses revealed a dose-dependent increase over the first 14 days, followed by a decline; PMB remained detectable on day 28. Ecological risk assessment using the risk quotient (RQ) indicated that PMB levels in the high-dose group (2 × 10⁸ CFU/100 g) approached the high-risk threshold (RQ ≥ 1) on day 14, while lower doses posed low to medium risk. This work provides a soil PMB quantification method and insight into the ecological risk of P. polymyxa application.