7 research outputs found
Isolation and Characterization of Bacteriophages Infecting Nocardioforms in Wastewater Treatment Plant
Activated sludge plants (ASP) are associated with the stable foaming problem worldwide. Apart from the physical and chemical
treatment methods, biological treatment method has been least explored and may prove to be a novel and ecofriendly approach
to tackle the problem of stable foam formation. In ASP Nocardia species are commonly found and are one of the major causes for
forming sticky and stable foam. This study describes the isolation and characterization of three Nocardia bacteriophages NOC1,
NOC2, and NOC3 for the control of Nocardia species. The bacteriophages isolated in this study have shown promising results in
controlling foam producing bacterial growth under laboratory conditions, suggesting that it may prove useful in the field as an
alternative biocontrol agent to reduce the foaming problem. To the best of our knowledge to date no work has been published from
India related to biological approach for the control of foaming
Novel bacteriophage therapy for controlling metallo-beta-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in Catfish
Background: The bacteriophage therapy is an effective antimicrobial approach with potentially important
applications in medicine and biotechnology which can be seen as an additional string in the bow. Emerging drug
resistant bacteria in aquaculture industry due to unrestricted use of antibiotics warrants more sustainable and
environmental friendly strategies for controlling fish infections.
The isolated bacteria from fish lesions was characterised based on isolation on selective and differential medium
like Pseudomonas agar, gram staining, biochemical tests and 16SrRNA sequencing. The metallo-beta-lactamase
(MBL) producing bacterial isolate was evaluated using Imipenem - Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) disk
method. The specific bacteriophage was isolated and concentrated using coal bed developed in our lab at
CSIR-NEERI. The isolated and enriched bacteriophage was characterised by nucleotide sequencing and electron
microscopy. The phage therapy was applied for treating ulcerative lesion in fish.
Results: The pathogenic bacterium responsible for causing ulcerative lesions in catfish species (Clarias gariepinus)
was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One out of twenty P. aeruginosa isolate showing multi drug resistance
(MDR) was incidentally found to be MBL producing as determined by Imipenem-EDTA disk method. The phage
therapy effectively cured the ulcerative lesions of the infected fish in 8–10 days of treatment, with a sevenfold
reduction of the lesion with untreated infection control.
Conclusion: Bacteriophage therapy can have potential applications soon as an alternative or as a complement to
antibiotic treatment in the aquaculture. We present bacteriophage therapy as a treatment method for controlling
MDR P. aeruginosa infection in C. gariepinus. To the best of our knowledge this is a first report of application of
phage therapy against MBL producing P. aeruginosa isolated from aquatic ecosystem.
Keywords: P. aeruginosa, Multi drug resistance, Metallo-β-lactamase, Bacteriophage therapy, Catfis
A simple and novel modification of comet assay for determination of bacteriophage mediated bacterial cell lysis
The comet assay is the widely used method for in vitro toxicity testing which is also an alternative to the
use of animal models for in vivo testing. Since, its inception in 1984 by Ostling and Johansson, it is being
modified frequently for a wide range of application. In spite of its wide applicability, unfortunately there
is no report of its application in bacteriophages research. In this study, a novel application of comet assay
for the detection of bacteriophage mediated bacterial cell lysis was described. The conventional methods
in bacteriophage research for studying bacterial lysis by bacteriophages are plaque assay method. It is
time consuming, laborious and costly. The lytic activity of bacteriophage devours the bacterial cell which
results in the release of bacterial genomic material that gets detected by ethidium bromide staining
method by the comet assay protocol. The objective of this study was to compare efficacy of comet assay
with different assay used to study phage mediated bacterial lysis. The assay was performed on culture
isolates (N = 80 studies), modified comet assay appear to have relatively higher sensitivity and specificity
than other assay. The results of the study showed that the application of comet assay can be an economical,
time saving and less laborious alternative to conventional plaque assay for the detection of bacteriophage
mediated bacterial cell lysis
Increasing the extraction efficiency of algal lipid for biodiesel production: Novel application of algal viruses
Various studies have been conducted recently using microalgal system for the production of algal lipid for biodiesel production. This study aimed at increasing the extraction efficiency of algal lipid from Chlorella sp. by the application of Chlorella viruses. The calorific value of lipid from Chlorella sp. has been reported to be higher than that of fresh water microalgae, making it a potential candidate to be used as biofuel. This is the first report on novel application of microalgal viruses for improving the extraction efficiency of algal lipid for biodiesel production through viral lysis of Chlorella vulgaris. The algal lipid extraction efficiency, increased by 11.68% in the case of Chlorella virus treated C. vulgaris when compared with Chlorella virus untreated C. vulgaris. The application of Chlorella virus and the viral encoded lytic enzymes for increasing the extraction efficiency of algal lipid will be helpful in optimizing algal biofuel industry in the future.Keywords: Micro-algal system, biodiesel, algal lipid, Chlorella viruses, viral lysis.African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(15), 1666-167
Novel application of bacteriophage for controlling foaming in wastewater treatment plant- an eco-friendly approach
This addendum to “Novel application of bacteriophage for controlling foaming in wastewater treatment plant- an eco-friendly approach “ includes characteristics of the phages NOC1, NOC2 and NOC3 not discussed in the previous paper. The phage adsorption and host interaction properties, their sensitivity to pH and temperature are inferred. NOC2 is seen to be more temperature resistant while others are not. All the phages show pH sensitivity. There is a variance observed in the behavior of these phages. Also, applicability of the phage based system to large scale reactors is studied and discussed here
Novel application of bacteriophage for controlling foaming in wastewater treatment plant- an eco-friendly approach.
This addendum to “Novel application of bacteriophage for controlling foaming in wastewater
treatment plant- an eco-friendly approach “ includes characteristics of the phages NOC1, NOC2 and
NOC3 not discussed in the previous paper. The phage adsorption and host interaction properties,
their sensitivity to pH and temperature are inferred. NOC2 is seen to be more temperature resistant
while others are not. All the phages show pH sensitivity. There is a variance observed in the
behavior of these phages. Also, applicability of the phage based system to large scale reactors is
studied and discussed here