Determination of the spectrum of lytic activity of bacteriophages by the method of acoustic analysis

The changes in the electroacoustic parameters of a cell suspension due to the interaction between cells and bacteriophages were studied both in pure culture and in the presence of extraneous microflora. It was shown that the specific changes in the electroacoustic parameters of a cell suspension under the influence of bacteriophage occur only in the microbial cells that are sensitive to this bacteriophage. A sensor unit allowed us to distinguish the situation where bacterial cells are infected with specific bacteriophages of the control experiments from the situation without such infection. An approximate criterion for specific interactions between bacteriophages and cells in the suspension was developed. According to this criterion, the change in electrical impedance of a sensor unit must not be less than ~1%. The standard microbiological technique of sowing the cells infected with bacteriophages on solid nutrient media was used as a control. The possibility of using the method of electroacoustic analysis to determine the spectrum of lytic activity of bacteriophages has been shown for the first time. The results that we obtained can be used to develop a new express method for determining the sensitivity of microbial cells to bacteriophages.