Date of Presentation
4-28-2026 9:30 AM
College
College of Science & Mathematics
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Drs. Farber and Bogush
Poster Abstract
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are increasingly important in applications ranging from agriculture and food safety to phage therapy. In this study, we isolated and characterized three novel phages, Gerri43, Crescenzo, and Roberts, from soil samples collected in Greenwich, New Jersey, and from the Rowan University campus in Glassboro, New Jersey, using Arthrobacter globiformis as the host bacterium. Phages were recovered using standard enrichment and purification approaches. After initial isolation, multiple rounds of plaque purification and serial dilution were performed to obtain clonal populations. High-titer lysates were then prepared by flooding webbed plates. Electron microscopy showed that all three phages share a similar morphology, with tails approximately 120 nm long and heads approximately 60 nm in diameter. Genomic analysis placed Gerri43 and Roberts in cluster FR, while Crescenzo was assigned to cluster AY. The genomes of Gerri43 and Roberts are 39,638 bp long, each containing 67 predicted genes and a GC content of 58.9%. Crescenzo has a larger genome of 53,361 bp, encoding 96 genes with a GC content of 62.4%. Overall, this work adds to the growing collection of characterized bacteriophages by describing three newly isolated phages and providing both morphological and genomic data that support their classification.
Disciplines
Biology
Document Type
Poster
Included in
Discovery and Characterization of Three Novel Bacteriophages Infecting Arthrobacter globiformis: Crescenzo (AY), Gerri43 (FR), & Roberts (FR)
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are increasingly important in applications ranging from agriculture and food safety to phage therapy. In this study, we isolated and characterized three novel phages, Gerri43, Crescenzo, and Roberts, from soil samples collected in Greenwich, New Jersey, and from the Rowan University campus in Glassboro, New Jersey, using Arthrobacter globiformis as the host bacterium. Phages were recovered using standard enrichment and purification approaches. After initial isolation, multiple rounds of plaque purification and serial dilution were performed to obtain clonal populations. High-titer lysates were then prepared by flooding webbed plates. Electron microscopy showed that all three phages share a similar morphology, with tails approximately 120 nm long and heads approximately 60 nm in diameter. Genomic analysis placed Gerri43 and Roberts in cluster FR, while Crescenzo was assigned to cluster AY. The genomes of Gerri43 and Roberts are 39,638 bp long, each containing 67 predicted genes and a GC content of 58.9%. Crescenzo has a larger genome of 53,361 bp, encoding 96 genes with a GC content of 62.4%. Overall, this work adds to the growing collection of characterized bacteriophages by describing three newly isolated phages and providing both morphological and genomic data that support their classification.