Abstract

Phages are the most abundant entities on the Earth, estimated in a magnitude of 1031. They also have a small genome, but always retaining the most successful genes for their evolution along with their host (Reyes et al, 2012). In order to explain the diversity of a system, it is very interesting to understand their presence and distribution, since they are considered excellent reporters of environments . Phages are biological entities very specific to their host, so their presence in the system is a reliable indicator of the presence of the host, which for our model corresponds to Salmonella. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to phenotypically characterize lithic Salmonella phages from cattle, birds and swines, either from backyard or industrial systems, birds from periurban systems, zoo reptiles and Altiplanic animals. METHODOLOGY 675 animal samples were analyzed for this study. Phage isolation was performed using the overlay method with 0.7% TSA, with a pre-enrichment using 4 strains of Salmonella hosts (Infantis, Heidelberg, Typhimurium and Enteritidis). Only lithic phages were selected. These phages were purified, titrated by spot method and stored at refrigeration temperature. Subsequently, they were characterized in terms of their host range using 26 different serotypes of Salmonella (Moreno et al, 2013). Conclusions The dynamics between phages and Salmonella, conditions the behavior of phages. In all the systems found phages of wide host range, the most extensive was the wild bird of wetlands. The most susceptible strains Salmonella, present in all the systems studied, were Enteritidis, Javiana and Typhimurium. It is important to be able to understand the role of phage-Salmonella dynamics in the different animal systems, since these systems are a source of maintenance, amplification and diversification of Salmonella enterica, considering that phages are one of the main engines of bacterial change.