Abstract

BACTERIOPHAGE AS BIOCONTROL AGENT FOR PATHOGEN REDUCTION IN WASTEWATER

Mansura S. Mulani*, Shilpa P. Tambe, Nusarat S. Shaikh, Numana Shaikh, Apurva Bhagat and Ravisha Mohile

Abstract

Many sewage wastewater treatment systems are aiming for complete pathogen removal without harming the environment which necessitates the search for new approaches. One such approach is the use of bacteriophage for pathogen removal. Bacteriophages can be used as bio-control agent against bacteria without interfering the natural microflora. Current study focuses on investigating the effect of bacteriophage against the pathogen present in wastewater by using bacteriophage as biocontrol agent. In this study five bacterial strains were isolated from sewage water collected from outlet connecting Mutha River, backside of Poona Hospital, Pune. The bacterial strains were identified till genus level based on biochemical characters and they may belong to E.coli, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas species.16srRNA gene sequencing was performed for one bacterial strain and it was identified as Klebsiella veriicola DSM 15968 (T) Titre for phage against Isolate 1, Isolate 2, Isolate 3, Isolate 4 and Isolate 5 were determined and found to be (PFU/ml) 1.7x10⁴, 1.2x10⁶, 1.98x10⁶, 2.1x10⁴ and 1.2x 10⁴ respectively. One step growth curve of PA1 was performed. FE-SEM of PA 4 was done and icosahedral head with tail was observed of 500nm size. TVC of wastewater was found to be 7×10⁶cfu/ml. Reduction in total viable count of pathogen were determined by treating it with cocktail of phages, after the treatment with cocktail of phages for 18 hours significant reduction was observed and found to be 5.5x104cfu/ml.

Keywords: Wastewater, Pathogen reduction, Bacteriophages, Cocktail.