High through put and fast method for isolating bacteriophages using 96 well flat bottom plate

Abstract

Abstract Bacteriophages are the viruses of prokaryotes. Emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria have prompted scientists to look for alternative ways of curing bacterial infections other than antibiotics. In this regard, phages have gained attention of scientific community. Entire phage particles and endolysin enzymes have been shown to be effective for killing bacteria and curing various bacterial infections in different pre-clinical and clinical trials. Since the very beginning of their discovery, phages are being isolated using agar over lay method using bacterial culture petrie plates. Here in this paper, we introduced a new method of isolating phages from environmental samples using flat bottom 96 well plates instead of bacterial culture petrie plates. Conceptually and principally this method is very similar to conventional agar overlay method. Using 96 well plates, it made it possible to screen for more samples using less experimental material, less human labour and using less laboratory space. In our view, this is more efficient and high throughput method, it can be used for quick initial screening of large number of sample for phage isolation and subsequently positive samples can be confirmed using conventional agar over lay method. Adoption of this method for phage discovery can accelerate new discoveries and developments in this field.