Understanding cell surface recognition by bacteriophages to engineer novel therapeutics targeting Enterococcus cecorum, an emerging poultry pathogen

Enterococcus cecorum is a bacterial pathogen that emerged in global chicken broiler production over the past decade as a cause of mortality due to skeletal lesions and septicemia. The economic burden associated with E. cecorum infections is increasing dramatically in a sector of the agricultural industry that represented £2.9bn in the UK in 2021. Pathogenic E. cecorum spread rapidly within a house but how it spreads throughout broiler production remains unclear. No effective vaccines exist, and antimicrobial therapy is ineffective once clinical signs of paralysis appear within the flock.

Our industrial partner (Aparon Ltd) is developing bacteriophages targeting E. cecorum as a novel therapeutic solution to replace banned antimicrobial growth promoters and prophylactically control this pathogen. This research largely overlaps with the work carried out by the academic supervisors, who recently characterized phages targeting Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium (two important human opportunistic pathogens) and identified the bacterial cell surface polymer used as a receptor by these phages.