Explorative Study on Isolation and Characterization of a G4 Bacteriophage, EMCL318, against Multi-Drug-resistant 15-318.

Bacteriophages screened and isolated from sewage water samples exhibited antibacterial activities against multi-drug-resistant strains. Five different water samples from Canadian habitats such as Kamloops Wastewater Treatment Center, Domtar, the Pacific Ocean, Bisaro Anima Cave, and alkali ponds, were used in this study. Four strains including one non-resistant and three clinical multi-drug strains ( 15-102, 15-124, and 15-318) were selected as target bacteria to screen for the bacteriophages from these collected water samples. Seeded agar assay technique was implemented for the screening. It was found that only sewage water sample exhibited a significant number of plaques count with the 15-318 (1.82 × 10² plaques/plate) cells in comparison to non-resistant strain K12 (8 plaques/plate). The phage did not produce plaques in the 15-124 and 15-102 strains. The bacteriophage, designated EMCL318, was isolated, purified, characterized, and identified to belong to the G4 species of the Family , GenBank accession number MG563770. This is an explorative study conducted in order to reveal the viruses as alternative potentials to fight against emerging and existing multi-drug-resistant infectious diseases.