Title: Isolation of a freshwater cyanophage (F1) capable of infecting Anabaena flos-aquae and its potentials in the control of water bloom

Authors: Weizhong Wu, Qing Zhu, Xinyao Liu, Chengcai An, Jianlong Wang

Addresses: College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China. ' College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China. ' College of Life Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China. ' College of Life Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China. ' Laboratory of Environmental Technology, INET, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China

Abstract: A cyanophage capable of infecting Anabaena floaquae was isolated by traditional dilution and plating techniques from a eutrophicated freshwater lake, Dianchi Lake, in Yunnan Province, China, and designated as F1. Morphologically, cyanophage F1 is similar to the bacteriophage T4, and it should belong to Myoviridae. Cyanophage F1 could effectively lyses Anabaena flosaquae cells both on the cyanobacterium plates and in liquid cultures. In microcosm experiments, inoculation of cyanophage F1 could clear the artificial Anabaena flosaqua water blooms within three days. The results could provide important information on the cyanobacterial/phage interactions in the field, and suggested that cyanophage F1 could be a promising bio-control agent in the control of cyanobacterial blooms.

Keywords: cyanophage; algae lysis; cell lysis; cyanobacterium control; cyanobacterial bloom; water bloom control; eutrophied freshwater lakes; China; biocontrol agents.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2009.026663

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2009 Vol.38 No.1/2, pp.212 - 221

Published online: 22 Jun 2009 *

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