and their phages; a community science approach to discovery and initial testing of prophylactic phage cocktails against American Foulbrood in New Zealand.

American foulbrood (AFB) is a devastating disease of the European honey bee () and is found throughout the world. AFB is caused by the bacterium () Treatment with antibiotics is strictly forbidden in many regions, including New Zealand. Safe and natural prophylactic solutions to protect honey bees from AFB are needed. Bacteriophages are a well-studied alternative to antibiotics and have been shown to be effective against in other countries. We employed a community science approach to obtaining samples from around New Zealand to discover novel bacteriophages. Standard isolation approaches were employed for both bacteria and bacteriophages. Host range testing was performed by agar overlay spot tests, and cocktail formulation and testing were performed in 96-well plate assays, followed by sub-sampling and CFU visualization on agar plates. Herein, we describe the discovery and isolation of eight bacterial isolates and 26 bacteriophages that are novel and native to New Zealand. The phage genomes were sequenced and annotated, and their genomes were compared to extant sequenced phage genomes. We test the host ranges of the bacteriophages and formulate cocktails to undertake testing on a set of representative bacterial strains. These results form the basis of a promising solution for protecting honey bees in New Zealand from AFB.