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Rapid detection of temperate bacteriophage using a simple motility assay
Author(s) -
Guo Yunxue,
Lin Jianzhong,
Wang Xiaoxue
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
environmental microbiology reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.229
H-Index - 69
ISSN - 1758-2229
DOI - 10.1111/1758-2229.12991
Subject(s) - lytic cycle , bacteriophage , lysis , lysogenic cycle , biology , contamination , prophage , temperateness , microbiology and biotechnology , motility , agar plate , complementation , bacteria , genetics , virus , phenotype , gene , escherichia coli , ecology
Summary Phage contamination is a common complication for the fermentation and pharmaceutical industries. The risk of bacteriophage contamination in laboratory processes increases with multiple rounds of genetic manipulation such as deletion and complementation. The contamination of temperate phages does not lead to immediate host cell lysis but could become a serious issue when the lytic cycle is activated under specific conditions. Our objective was to develop a quick and reliable detection method for checking possible temperate phage contamination. Here, using motility plates, we found that when the strain carries a newly acquired temperate phage, its presence can be easily detected by the formation of a clear ‘lysis zone’ when swimming against the original strain on the same swimming plates. Compared to the traditional double agar layer method and genomic sequencing‐based methods, the duration of the motility‐based assay is shorter and the procedure is simplified. More importantly, for the bacterial strains that already contain active prophages, this method can still easily detect the newly acquired phages without tedious phage identification procedure. These features make this method highly applicable to laboratory and industrial processes.