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Appl Environ Microbiol, January 1998, p. 304-309, Vol. 64, No. 1
Department of Soil and Environmental
Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521
Received 27 June 1997/Accepted 30 October 1997
Batch sorption experiments were carried out with the bacteriophages
MS2 and
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Role of the Air-Water-Solid Interface in
Bacteriophage Sorption Experiments

X174. Two types of reactor vessels, polypropylene and glass,
were used. Consistently lower concentrations of MS2 were found in the
liquid phase in the absence of soil (control blanks) than in the
presence of soil after mixing. High levels of MS2 inactivation
(~99.9%) were observed in control tubes made of polypropylene (PP),
with comparatively little loss of virus seen in PP tubes when soil was
present. Minimal inactivation of MS2 was observed when the air-water
interface was completely eliminated from PP control blanks during
mixing. All batch experiments performed with reactor tubes made of
glass demonstrated no substantial inactivation of MS2. In similar
experiments, bacteriophage
X174 did not undergo inactivation in
either PP or glass control blanks, implying that this virus is not
affected by the same factors which led to inactivation of MS2 in the PP
control tubes. When possible, phage adsorption to soil was calculated
by the Freundlich isotherm. Our data suggest that forces associated
with the air-water-solid interface (where the solid is a hydrophobic
surface) are responsible for inactivation of MS2 in the PP control
tubes. The influence of air-water interfacial forces should be
carefully considered when batch sorption experiments are conducted with
certain viruses.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of Soil
and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA
92521. Phone: (909) 787-5488. Fax: (909) 787-3993. E-mail:
marylynn.yates{at}ucr.edu.
Present address: Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State
University, Pullman, WA 99164.
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