ISOLATION AND PARTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SALMONELLA PHAGE FROM MAROJARM PLANTS

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Virology Lab, Department of Agriculture Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Themarjoram plant is recorded as medicinal one, traditionally recommended as stimulant / tonic , and  help to reduce the severity of   asthma, indigestion, headache, rheumatism and toothache.
Results of this study showed high total count of contaminating bacteria in marjoram plants in non-packed samples collected from eight Egyptian governorates as compared with the pre-packed ones from two local companies. The presence of Bacillus sp. and  E. coli, butnot Salmonella sp. are note-worthy.
One phage successfully infected Salmonella typhimurium was isolated using plaque assay which produced circular turbid plaques .The electron micrograph of negatively stained preparation indicated that the phage particles have hexagonal head (~80 nm) with short tail (~20 nm), which is classified to family Podoviridae. The biological characterization of the phage isolate  is found to be : inactivation point at 62°C for 10 min., longevity in vitro for 72 hrs, dilution end point of 10-3 and stability for 1.5 hrs at pH 7.2.

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