SEA-PHAGES | Notes from September 2022 Faculty Meeting

Link to this post \| posted 16 Sep, 2022 21:18
mcclory	On 9/16/22 SEA-PHAGES hosted a Zoom meeting about phage hosts. Our breakout group was composed of SEA faculty from institutions that used Microbacterium foliorum as a host. I took brief notes from the breakout session. I'll relay things I found interesting, but it would be great for anyone who attended (or who wasn unable to make it) to expand on them. Participants: Sean McClory, Carlos Partida, Hui-Min Chung, Karen Klyczek, Louise Temple, Alejandra Mussi, Alexandra Jerby, Dustin Edwards, Elivara Eivazova, Emily Savage, Iain Duffy, Maria Elena Baez Flores, Ricardo Parra, Sean Coleman, Shallee Page, Yesmi Ahumada, Eric Engstrom Alejandra mentioned that she had selected M. foliorum because that host had the best success with direct isolations her students collected. I found this interesting, because we started working with M. foliorum when, after a dissapointing semester with our original host M. smeg, I collected a half-dozen samples from around our small campus (where most student samples came from) and did a direct isolation with each of the hosts we had in the freezer. M. foliorum was the winner and our next semester we had signficiantly better student success. Several participants mentioned isolating wild Microbacterium species and using them as hosts. Hui-Min in particular had an interesting project. Her students at University of Western Florida were interested in marine phages, so they collected a few wild bacteria isolates from the local beach. One is a Microbacterium species. Her students have had success isolating phages from marine samples (using the wild isolate hosts???). One of these phages does infect M. foliorum. Hui-Min also mentioned that clam extracts were a potentially great source of phages - I didn't catch all the details about this, but I'd love to hear more. Louise Temple mentioned that many Microbacterium species have a high number of prophages. We began a brief discussion of this, but ran out of time. If anyone has tips for detecting prophages in wild Mircobacterium spp. I think there are several people interested. After the breakout room, Vic shared a pro-tip before we left: grass clippings, particularly partially decaying grass clippings, may be an excellent source of M. foliorum phages. I'm looking forward to trying this. Good to see everyone! Good luck phage hunting!

Link to this post | posted 16 Sep, 2022 21:18

On 9/16/22 SEA-PHAGES hosted a Zoom meeting about phage hosts. Our breakout group was composed of SEA faculty from institutions that used Microbacterium foliorum as a host.

I took brief notes from the breakout session. I'll relay things I found interesting, but it would be great for anyone who attended (or who wasn unable to make it) to expand on them.

Participants: Sean McClory, Carlos Partida, Hui-Min Chung, Karen Klyczek, Louise Temple, Alejandra Mussi, Alexandra Jerby, Dustin Edwards, Elivara Eivazova, Emily Savage, Iain Duffy, Maria Elena Baez Flores, Ricardo Parra, Sean Coleman, Shallee Page, Yesmi Ahumada, Eric Engstrom

Alejandra mentioned that she had selected M. foliorum because that host had the best success with direct isolations her students collected. I found this interesting, because we started working with M. foliorum when, after a dissapointing semester with our original host M. smeg, I collected a half-dozen samples from around our small campus (where most student samples came from) and did a direct isolation with each of the hosts we had in the freezer. M. foliorum was the winner and our next semester we had signficiantly better student success.

Several participants mentioned isolating wild Microbacterium species and using them as hosts. Hui-Min in particular had an interesting project. Her students at University of Western Florida were interested in marine phages, so they collected a few wild bacteria isolates from the local beach. One is a Microbacterium species. Her students have had success isolating phages from marine samples (using the wild isolate hosts???). One of these phages does infect M. foliorum. Hui-Min also mentioned that clam extracts were a potentially great source of phages - I didn't catch all the details about this, but I'd love to hear more.

Louise Temple mentioned that many Microbacterium species have a high number of prophages. We began a brief discussion of this, but ran out of time. If anyone has tips for detecting prophages in wild Mircobacterium spp. I think there are several people interested.

After the breakout room, Vic shared a pro-tip before we left: grass clippings, particularly partially decaying grass clippings, may be an excellent source of M. foliorum phages. I'm looking forward to trying this.

Good to see everyone! Good luck phage hunting!

Link to this post \| posted 22 Sep, 2022 13:54
DrCatalase	After the breakout room, Vic shared a pro-tip before we left: grass clippings, particularly partially decaying grass clippings, may be an excellent source of M. foliorum phages. I'm looking forward to trying this. Also, I am 100% from compost on Microbacterium foliorum bacteriophages, by direct isolation. Especially good is vermicompost! Edited 22 Sep, 2022 13:54

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Notes from September 2022 Faculty Meeting