Ganga Lab Report

ABSTRACT

This project deals with the microbiology field where in our main focus was on the study of microbes and isolation of phage from different regions of Ganga river. Chief source of water collection was from Sangam (Allahabad),Varanasi (Dashashwamedh Ghat),Haridwar (Rishikesh). Colonies were grown from the samples & isolated on Nutrient Agar plates. Biochemical Test was implemented for different colonies isolated from the water. According to the Biochemical test results the identification of different types of bacterial colonies present in Ganga water was done with the help of colour change, gas production, acid production & bubble development. Two methods like Double Agar method & Plaque Assay method were used for the isolation of bacteriophage.

The Ganga is known as the most sacred river to Hindus. It is life line for millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily requirements. It is worshipped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. The Ganga in India is so polluted by industrial and human waste that many Hindus are now hesitant about diving in it to ritually cleanse their souls. The Ganga Action Plan was an environmental initiative took to clean up the river & has been a major failure due to factors like exploitation, lack of technical expertise, poor environmental planning & lack of support from religious

The word is derived from "bacteria" and the Greek word phage in means “to devour". Bacteriophages are made up of proteins that encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome and may have simple or large structures. Their genomes might encode for 4-100 genes. Phage can replicate inside the bacterium injecting its genome into its cytoplasm. Bacteriophages are the most common and diverse entities found in the biosphere. Phages are widely distributed in locations populated by bacterial hosts like soil or intestine of the animals. One of the chief natural sources for phages and other viruses is sea water where up to 9×108 virions per ml have been found in microbial mats at the surface and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages.

The Franco-Canadian microbiologist Félix d’Herelle (1873 to 1949) discovered bacteriophage called bacterial virus in 1917 at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. From number of trials and field experiments d’Herelle discovered the importance of bacteriophage as an antimicrobial agent that was thousand times more potent against bacteria than any agent known at that time. Felix d’Herelle developed the idea of ‘phage therapy’ which is a therapeutic and prophylactic treatment designed to take advantage of phage in the cellular destruction of pathogenic bacteria while remaining completely innocuous to host cells