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Isolation and characterization of a moderately halophilic Marinobacter phage-host system from the Arabian Sea

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Abstract

Marinobacter is an ecologically important genus of Gammaproteobacteria found in diverse marine habitats, many species of which are capable of degrading hydrocarbons. In this study, we isolated a Marinobacter phage-host system from the surface waters of the Arabian Sea using enrichment culture methods, studied their growth characteristics and investigated the effect of salinity and nitrate concentrations on phage-host interactions. The bacterial isolate had maximum identity to Marinobacter salsuginis based on 16S rRNA similarities and was termed as Marinobacter sp., strain D1S9. It could tolerate up to 14% of NaCl with maximum growth at 11% NaCl. The host grew optimally between 35 and 40 °C and at pH 8. It had a generation time of 3.7 h with a mean growth rate of 0.27 h−1. The phage infected the host forming clear, round plaques of 1–2 mm diameter. It had a narrow host range restricted to the strain Marinobacter D1S9. The latent period and burst size of the phage were estimated to be 30 min and 106 phages per infected cell, respectively. The phage had an adsorption rate of 3.4 × 10−8 ml min−1 and retained 40.4% of its adsorption efficiency at 16% NaCl with a maximum at 4% NaCl (76.1%). Inorganic nitrate was found to have a direct role in controlling host growth and phage burst size.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh, the Director, CSIR-NIO, Goa and Dr. T. Pankajakshan, the Scientist-in-Charge, NIO (RC), Cochin for their support and advice. Authors are grateful to the Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad and Dr. Jyothibabu R, Principal Scientist, for the funding through grant-in aid project, GAP 2807. AS is grateful to University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India for financial support for senior research fellowship grant. The authors are grateful to Dr. Sandhya S. V., ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin for providing Marinobacter and Alteromonas cultures.

Funding

This work was supported by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services through grant-in-aid project [NIO GAP 2807].

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  1. CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre (CSIR), Kochi, 682 018, India

    Sreekumar Aparna, Ammini Parvathi & Arya Kaniyassery

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  1. Sreekumar Aparna
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Correspondence to Ammini Parvathi.

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Aparna, S., Parvathi, A. & Kaniyassery, A. Isolation and characterization of a moderately halophilic Marinobacter phage-host system from the Arabian Sea. Environ Monit Assess 192, 199 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-8166-9

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