Suppression of interfering predominant bacteria in purification of myxobacteria

Nasim Roohi zohrab,1,* Mona dehhaghi,2 Fatemeh mohammadipanah,3

1. Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, Col
2. Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, Col
3. Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, Col

Abstract


Introduction

Myxobacteria have recently gained attention due to the ability to produce numerous biological active metabolites. applying efficient purification approaches to eliminate the predominant contaminations is essential in purification process of myxobacteria. in this study, we presented six methods for purification of myxobacteria to suppress the dominant contaminant from the genus microvirga which have similar swarming appearance to myxobacteria.

Methods

Myxobacteria were isolated from 70 samples collected from different areas of iran. samples were cultured on water agar medium (wat) and myxobacterial colonies were transferred on vy2 agar. purification methods including ultrasonication (37khz and 80 khz for 2-3 min), heat treatment (50 and 60 °c for 2-5 min), combination of ultrasonication and heat treatment, antibiotic (ampicillin), crystal violet (0.05%), and filter paper were applied to suppress the contaminants.

Results

The results showed 80% survival rate of strains after using heat treatment-sonication combination. while, only half of myxobacterial strains (40%) grew purely after heat treatment and antibiotic treatment. moreover, heat treatment and using crystal violet showed the least recovery rate (20%).

Conclusion

Myxobacterial purification process using combinations of heat treatment and ultrasonication showed the highest efficiency in elimination of microvirga spp. in addition, survival rate of myxobacteria was maintained following this treatment. myxospores are resistant to the harsh conditions such as high temperatures (60 °c), ultrasonic vibration, and ultraviolet radiation which drove us to use this physicochemical tolerance to eliminate the contaminants. in conclusion, we introduced a simple, efficient method aim at attainment of pure myxobacterial culture.

Keywords

Myxobacteria; purify