Discovery and Analysis of SoloMonstro

Abstract

Bacteriophage are a type of virus that target specific bacteria, infect them, and eventually lyse the bacterial cell. These specialized viruses have been used as a method of therapy utilized to treat bacterial infections, and their potential is ever expanding as research continues to be done. The bacterial host used throughout these experiments was Arthobactor globiformis, and said strain was utilized to observe and analyze the activity and behaviors of the phage SoloMonstro. Through the SEA- PHAGES program, SoloMonstro was successfully isolated and purified to be archived in the national phage discovery database. The aim of this research was to discover and purify a phage using a host bacterial strain, and from there examine its attributes and behaviors through various plating techniques and the eventual usage of Transmission Electron Microscope imaging. The process began by collecting a soil sample in which a phage might be found, as bacteriophage are commonly located in sediments where bacteria to infect and lyse may be found. Once a phage had been recognized through the presence of plaques, or holes created through the lysis of bacteria on the lawn of a plate, a series of processes were undergone in order to purify, calculate the concentration, extract the DNA, and capture electron microscopy images of said phage. These procedures revealed much about the behaviors and characteristics of SoloMonstro, such as the productivity of the phage itself, how quickly the phage will lyse infected Arthrobacter globiformis, and the rate at which it will reproduce.