Bacteriophage activity against the causative ...

Bacteriophage activity against the causative agents of Nosocomial infections

Author Name : Monika Soni, Purity Longmalai, Ibakmensi Khongstid

ABSTRACT

Rapid rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria worldwide forced scientific community to find alternate solutions to antibiotics. Bacteriophages are natural enemy of bacteria. Phage therapy has wide range of applications with no adverse effects on environment or health. Present study aimed to isolated bacteriophages from sewage and cow-dung samples and assesses their activity against Staphylococcus epidermis and Micrococcus luteus.

Sewage and cow dung samples were collected for bacteriophage isolation. Bacterial isolation was performed from cow dung samples. Bacterial colonies were preliminary identified by colony morphology and gram staining. Samples of bacteria were outsourced for identification at species level on VITEK-2 system.

Bacteriophage isolation and enrichment: Phage was isolated using double agar overlay assay. Plates were incubated at 37°C overnight, to observe for any clear zones in the form of plaques. Enrichment of bacteriophage was performed by addition of 40ml broth medium supplemented with 1mM of CaCl2 or MgCl2 in a 250 ml culture flask inoculated with 100µl of a fresh overnight bacterial culture. Culture was incubated at 37°C for 24– 48 hours. After Enrichment phage lysate was utilised for plaque assay.

High lytic activity was observed by phage isolated from sewage samples compared to phage isolated from cow-dung samples. Cow-dung and Sewage could be a good source for isolation of potential bacteriophage which could be utilised as phage therapy atleast for studied bacteria.

Keywords: Bacteriophage, Sewage, Cow Dung, Staphylococcus epidermis, Micrococcus luteus