Determination of the spectrum of lytic activity of bacteriophages by the method of acoustic analysis

Abstract

The changes in the electro-acoustic parameters of cell suspension due to the interaction of cells with bacteriophages both in a pure. culture and in the presence of extraneous microflora were investigated. It has been found that the specific changes in the electroacoustic parameters of cell suspension under the action of bacteriophage occur only in microbial cells which are sensitive to the bacteriophage studied. It has been established that a sensor unit allows of distinguishing a situation when the bacterial cells are infected with specific bacteriophages of the control experiments and a situation with no introduction of infection. An approximate criterion of the presence of specific interactions of bacteriophages and cells in suspension was developed. In accordance with this criterion the change in electrical impedance of the sensor unit must not be less than - 1%. In control experiments a standard microbiological technique, plating the cells infected with bacteriophages on solid nutrient medium, was used. For the first time the possibility of using the method of electroacoustic analysis for determination of a spectrum of lytic activity of bacteriophages was shown. The results obtained may be used for development of a new express method for determining the sensitivity to bacteriophages of the microbial cells.