Authors : Gamal Enan, Khalid A. Shaaban, Ahmed Askora and Muhammad Maher
Abstract: This research described a preliminary studies for controlling two Escherichia coli strains (E. coli W1 and E. coli W2) isolated from polluted water by their novel coliphages which identified herein and designated ECP1, ECP2 and ECP3. E. coli W1 and E. coli W2 strains were isolated from polluted water and identified using usual cultural, Morphological and Biochemical Methods. Three bacteriophages lysing E. coli strains were isolated. The bacteriophage lysing E. coli W1 (coliphage1) was designated ECP1 while coliphage2, coliphage3 were highly specific to infect E. coli W2 and consequently have been designated ECP2, ECP3, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the ECP1, ECP2 and ECP3 coliphages belong to family Myoviridae. Increasing host age lead to inhibition of coliphage infectivity. The ECP1, ECP2 and ECP3 coliphages exhibited different rates of adsorption and burst sizes but they possessed the same latent and rise periods (30 min). The host range of the three coliphages suggested that these coliphages may be useful as biocontrol agents. Addition of ECP1, ECP2 and ECP3 coliphages to their hosts decreased viable cell population of their host E. coli W1, W2 distinctively in vitro.
Gamal Enan, Khalid A. Shaaban, Ahmed Askora and Muhammad Maher, 2013. Evaluation of the use of Novel Coliphages to Control Escherichia coli W1 and Escherichia coli W2 Strains Isolated from Water. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 8: 486-493.