Many sewage waste treatment systems are aiming for complete pathogen removal which necessitates search for novel approaches that does not harm the environment. One such novel approach is exploring the possibilities of bacteriophages for pathogen removal. Hospital wastewater was collected from different locations of Tamil Nadu and used for the study. The total heterotroph and total coliform population ranged from 1.6 × 105 to 8.3 × 106 per mL and from 1.2 × 103 to 1.6 × 103/ 100 mL of sample respectively. Higher frequency of antibiotic resistant E. coli, Pseudomonas sp. Streptococcus sp and Bacillus spp were observed in all the places, which clearly indicated the extent of pollution. All the samples had specific phages against E. coli and none of the samples had phages against MTCC culture. E. coli specific phage was isolated and the population of phage required for effective killing of E. coli has been standardized as 3 × 104 pfu / mL of lysate. The inoculation resulted in 100% removal of pathogen from sewage water within 14 hours of incubation.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Environmental factors in the marine environment forces the marine organisms to be the source of useful bioactive compounds. Among the marine organisms, Actinomycetes gained importance as they play a vital role in the production novel metabolites. To explore the potential of marine Actinomycetes the present study was carried out. Eight isolates with different growth pattern was isolated from marine sediments of Thiruvallum, Kerala using starch casein agar medium. Large size, white colored colonies with fibre like growth surrounding the colonies were observed in starch casein agar media. All the isolates were subjected to rapid plate assay technique for screening L asparaginase activity. Starch casein agar supplemented with 0.015 % phenol red was highly suitable for assessing asparaginase activity. Only three isolates showed significant activities and KTI7 showed highest zone of clearance. The crude enzyme obtained from the promising isolate KTI7 was purified by salting out with ammonium sulphate followed by sephadex gel filtration.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract