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. 1982 Mar;43(3):694–701. doi: 10.1128/aem.43.3.694-701.1982

Methods for Studying Aquatic Bacteriophage Ecology

Sandy B Primrose 1,†, Nigel D Seeley 1, Kelvin B Logan 1,‡, John W Nicolson 1
PMCID: PMC241896  PMID: 16345976

Abstract

Methods are described for enumerating the different kinds of bacteriophage present in virus concentrates prepared from 120 liters of water. Although developed specifically for use with coliphages, they should be applicable to viruses infecting other hosts. These methods involve mixed indicators, equilibrium buoyant-density centrifugation, use of enzymes or inhibitors or both, and specific hybridization probes, either alone or in combination. With these methods, it was possible to specifically enumerate filamentous and isometric male-specific (F-specific) phages, the different classes of P-group plasmid-specific phages, φX174-like phages, and λ-like phages. Some applications of these methods, including measurement of virus inactivation in the environment and the extent of fecal pollution, are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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