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Abstract

Bacteriophages are the natural bacterial killers and viruses of prokaryotes. Phage infects the bacteria more specifically, causes lytic or lysogenic activity in cells. Research on phages is a fast expanding area in plant protection. Several experiments have shown phage mediated bio- control of bacteria. Ralstonia solanacearum is a phytopathogenic, Gram-negative bacterium causes wilting symptoms in many solanaceous vegetable crops including potato and ginger. It infects to roots and specifically invades in the plant tissue, extensively multiplying in xylem part of the plant leads to wilting, resulted heavy economic losses to the farmer. The chemical control of bacterial infections inside plant tissue is unsuitable and inaccessible since high multiplication rate and colonizing deeper inside the plant tissue. Use of synthetic antibiotic for the control of bacteria has been resulted increased antibiotic resistance. Therefore, in the present investigation an attempt was made to isolate bacteriophage against R. solanacearum. The aim of this research work was to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophages against R. solanacearum. The phytopathogenic R. solanacearum was isolated from infected potato and ginger plants. The PCR and 16S rRNA sequence analysis were used for the identification of the bacteria. Four bacteriophages Ï?RsA1, Ï?RsB1, Ï?RsC1 and Ï?RsD1 were isolated specific to R. solanacearum. The electron microscopic analysis was done to observe morphology and RAPD analysis was conducted to identify genetic diversity of phages. In-vitro confirmation phage activity against bacteria was done. The results of the study greatly anticipated that phages can be used as potent antimicrobial agents in plant protection.

Biography

Makari Hanumanthappa K has completed his MSc Biotechnology in 2003 from Kuvempu University and MPhil in 2008. He is serving as Assistant Professor and Head in Department of Biotechnology, IDSG Government College, Chikmagalur, India. He has published more than 30 research and review papers in reputed journals and has been serving as reviewer for many scientific journals. He is a fellow member for various national and international scientific organizations. He is the recipient of Environmentalist-2010 award for his outstanding research contribution in Microbial Biotechnology from National Environmental Science Academy, India. He is pursuing PhD in Microbiology from Bharathiar University.