Study on Air Bacteria at Different Altitudinal Locations in Tezpur to Tawang Axis

Microflora plays an important role in modulating environmental quality. Among microflora, bacteria are omnipresent in the environment. Pathogenic bacteria, present in air, are known to affect significantly the health and well-being of human, animal or plant populations. Air bacteria monitoring is thus essential for surveillance of pathogenic microorganisms from public health perspective besides its significant implications in detection and mitigation of biothreat related issues. Despite the geo-politically strategic importance of northeast India, there is scarcity of data on human health and disease surveillance. Considering these facts, we, for the first time studied the bacterial diversity of air at six important sites adjacent to the international border in the northeast region of India, having an altitude range of 73 m (Tezpur) to 4170 m (Sela Pass) above sea level. Standard microbiological techniques, such as Tryptone Soya Agar, Mannitol salt and McConkey agar strips and plates were used for air bacterial load assessment and culture for subsequent analysis using biochemical and molecular techniques. Following RFLP study, twenty six different bacterial colonies were isolated. Subsequently, bacteria identification was carried out by examining the substrate utilisation patterns, sequencing 16S rRNA gene and phylogenetic analysis. Results of the study reveal that the isolates mostly belong to two genera Bacillus and Staphylococcus (eleven in each genus), along with Micrococcus, Pseduomonas and Acinetobacter. Based on significant match of our sequences with that of medically important bacterial 16S rRNA sequences available at 16SpathDB 2.0 and review of available literature, we found that a number of these bacterial species have the pathogenic potential. In this manuscript we report our results and discuss the importance of air bacterial surveillance from the perspective of human health, hygiene and biothreat mitigation

Potential Application of Bacteriophage in Decontaminating Biothreat Agents

Multidrug resistant bacterial infections have become a potent risk, globally and there is an urgent need to phage and phage-derived enzymes as a therapeutic agent. The risk is more prominent in underdeveloped nations, where high population density, poor drinking water, inadequate sanitary and health care facilities ease the spread of infection. Bacteriophages (or ‘phages’) are abundant in nature and highly specific in their infection and pathogenicity, allowing their isolation, enrichment and use against specific bacteria. Employing bacteriophages as a tool for neutralizing potential biological threat agents can thus be an effective approach towards preparedness for biothreat mitigation. Unlike chemical antibiotics, phages are self-propagating, i.e., starting with a small number they can sustain their population, do not affect non-target/ beneficial bacterial populations. The tremendous potential of bacteriophages has recently been shown in treating multidrug resistant bacterial infections in terminally ill human subjects with unprecedented success. The natural anti-bacterial properties can be harnessed for decontamination of food, water, crops and for many other purposes including pathogen reduction in wastewater etc. Additionally, with the advancement in genetic engineering, deliberate use of such engineered multidrug resistant bacteria by state/non-state players has also become a reality. Owing to their resistance to several of the available antibiotics, control and mitigation of emerging pathogens is going to be great challenge. In this context, bacteriophages could be of potential use, since these viruses specifically infect bacterial hosts, often leading to their destruction

Folklore claims on some medicinal plants used by <i>Bheel </i>tribe of Guna district Madhya Pradesh

105-107The paper deals about some medicinal plants used by tribal communities of Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. A record on 20 plant species belonging to 18 families, used by Bheel tribes for curing various ailments among human beings and animals are given. Uses of plants for other purposes are also mentioned

Isolation and Characterization of Lytic Bacteriophages from Wastewater and its Application in Pathogen Reduction

Present work wasperformedto isolate, enrich and characterizebacteriophageusing basic laboratory set-up, and to demonstrate their lytic potential in pathogen reduction. Following standard microbiological and molecular biological procedures, we examined cultivable bacteria and bacteriophages in wastewater sample. Subsequently, from cultures of wastewater sample, we isolated and characterized bacterial isolate, which was thenusedtoenrichlytic bacteriophages, using a combination of double layer plaque-assay, isolation and genetic techniques to isolate bacteriophage against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Subsequently decontamination capability of this phage was assessed in form of spray and matrix adsorbed formulations.&nbsp; Storage stability of phagepreparations at different temperatures was also studied by calculating reduction in phage titer. Presentstudies demonstratelytic potential of phageas an eco-friendly alternative to conventional control approachesagainstbacterial contamination