Characterization of Streptococcus thermophilus phages from cheese

Abstract- Ten Streptococcus thermophilus phages isolated from commercial and natural starter cultures have been characterized on the basis of their host range, genome size, and restriction digest profiles. All phage DNAs exhibited distinct digestion profiles, seven phage genomes showed cohesive ends, and the sizes ranged between 36 to 42 Kb. Data obtained showed a large variability among all phages except for those that infected the same host strains. Key words: Streptococcus thermophilus, bacteriophages, cheese, starter cultures