Novel T4 bacteriophage and royal jelly infused disinfectant versus E. coli compared to QACs

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly worsening phenomenon in the 21st century having resulted in thousands of deaths per year. Increases in the diffusion of antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative bacteria and prevalence of specific genes leading to resistance have been linked to an excessive usage of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli. This experiment aims to develop a novel disinfectant solution (T4MRJP) that utilizes the entero-bacteriophage t4 and nine major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) to inhibit the growth of E. coli on a MHA (Mueller Hinton Agar) growth medium. In the experiment, the Kirby Bauer Disk Diffusion Assay was first applied on six MHA plates inoculated with 36 evenly distributed susceptibility disks containing different concentrations of solution for three QAC groups, a positive t4 bacteriophage group, and two T4 groups at 90% and 98% dilution respectively. Results demonstrated a strong positive correlation between the increases of concentration to demonstrated inhibition but a lack of statistical significance between the T4 and QAC groups in regards to the proposed hypothesis. However, the diluted T4 group was just as effective as the QAC groups at inhibiting bacterial growth, especially at higher concentrations of the administered solution. In a second trial, however, the T4MRJP (Major royal jelly protein) cocktail was significantly less effective than the experimented QAC groups compared to the bacteriophage alone.