Bacteriophage infection is a severe threat to microbial population in natural environment. We developed a protocol to eliminate bacteriophages from infected salmonella enterica culture, using lipopolysaccharide or LPS, an important outer membrane component of gram-negative bacteria. Traditional procedures to decontaminate phage-infected culture include exposing them to a stressful condition, like high temperature, which partially or completely eliminates bacterial cells.
The crucial step in our protocol is incubated phage-infected culture with commercial LPS, a non-harmful substance for bacterial culture that preserves cell viability. While bacteriophages have valuable roles in areas such as phage therapy, medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology, their presence is undesirable in certain biological processes. Phages can occasionally turn the microbiologist's professional life into a nightmare.
Thus, designing efficient procedures to remove phages is critical to enhancing cellular process efficiency. This cost-effective and efficient procedure maintains the viability of microbial cells, takes a couple of hours to ensure phage-free cultures, permits qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the presence of phages, and only requires minimal equipment.
