Isolation and characterization of potential phages against vibrio alginolyticus

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the partial requirement on the course DVT 55204 – Final Year Research Project.
Vibriosis is a disease that cause massive mortality in aquaculture farming in Asia which is commonly controlled by antibiotic. Since there is antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in vibrio bacterial species, bacteriophage can be an option for fish farmer to treat vibriosis. The objectives of this study were (i) to isolate and identify bacteriophage from different kind of bivalve mollusks (bean clam, carpet clam and wild oyster) in wet market against Vibrio alginolyticus strains and (ii) to determine the host specificity of the isolated phage. Spot test and plaque formation were done to isolate the phages from bivalve mollusks. Then, the isolated phages were identified morphologically using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). In this study, two isolates of phages were isolated from white oyster (VA-WO1) and carpet clam (VA-CC1). Unfortunately, only VA-WO1 phage was further studied due to technical error. Morphologically the bacteriophage identified using TEM belongs to the Siphoviridae family. This study showed VA-WOI only targeted specific strain of V. alginolyticus (K5). Further studies are needed to isolate other phages for effective vibriosis control caused by V. alginolyticus.
Keywords: Vibrio alginolyticus, bacteriophage, aquaculture