Open AccessUse of PRD1 bacteriophage in groundwater viral transport, inactivation, and attachment studies
Author(s) -
Harvey Ronald W,
Ryan Joseph N
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsec.2003.09.015
Subject(s) - bacteriophage , biology , groundwater , tracer , aquifer , biophysics , geotechnical engineering , biochemistry , geology , physics , escherichia coli , nuclear physics , gene
PRD1, an icosahedra‐shaped, 62 nm (diameter), double‐stranded DNA bacteriophage with an internal membrane, has emerged as an important model virus for studying the manner in which microorganisms are transported through a variety of groundwater environments. The popularity of this phage for use in transport studies involving geologic media is due, in part, to its relative stability over a range of temperatures and low degree of attachment in aquifer sediments. Laboratory and field investigations employing PRD1 are leading to a better understanding of viral attachment and transport behaviors in saturated geologic media and to improved methods for describing mathematically subsurface microbial transport at environmentally significant field scales. Radioisotopic labeling of PRD1 is facilitating additional information about the nature of viral interactions with solid surfaces in geologic media, the importance of iron oxide surfaces, and allowing differentiation between inactivation and attachment in field‐scale tracer tests.