Bioprospecting of bacteriolytic bacteriophage infecting Enterobacter species

The purpose of this study is to isolate and characterize Enterobacter aerogenes bacteriophage. Enterobacter aerogenes is a Gram-negative bacterium that belongs to the family Enterobacteriacaea. It is one of the most important opportunistic pathogen that can cause hospital-acquired pnewnonia, bacteremia and urinary tract infections. One of the main concerns regarding this bacteria species is that it has become highly resistant towards most of the existing antibiotics. This study uses A TCC strain of E. aero genes to screen for the bacteriophage from the sewage water using agar overlay method. The isolated bacteriophage, bacteriophage FS135, was successfully isolated and was then characterized based on their stability towards temperature, pH and host range. Based on the thennal stability tests, the phage was stable at temperature between 25C until 60°C while for the pH tests, it was indicated that the phage was stable at the pH range of 3-12. Plaque morphological observation was also carried out and the result suggests that FS 135 most likely belongs to the family Myoviridae