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Updated: May 30, 2026

Bacteriophage Effectiveness for Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Evaluated via High-Throughput Settings
Published on: August 19, 2021
Bacteriophage-based biocontrol of biological sludge bulking in wastewater
Jeongdong Choi1, Shireen Meher Kotay, Ramesh Goel
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA.
Abstract:
In a previous paper, the first ever application of lytic bacteriophage (virus)-mediated biocontrol of biomass bulking in the activated sludge process using Haliscomenobacter hydrossis as a model filamentous bacterium was demonstrated. In this work we extended the biocontrol application to another predominant filamentous bacterium, Sphaerotilus natans, notoriously known to cause filamentous bulking in wastewater treatment systems. Very similar to previous study, one lytic bacteriophage was isolated from wastewater that could infect S. natans and cause lysis. Significant reduction in sludge volume index and turbidity of the supernatant was observed in batches containing S. natans biomass following addition of lytic phages. Microscopic examination confirmed that the isolated lytic phage can trigger the bacteriolysis of S. natans. This extended finding further strengthens our hypothesis of bacteriophage-based biocontrol of overgrowth of filamentous bacteria and the possibility of phage application in activated sludge processes, the world's widely used wastewater treatment processes.
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