The isolation and identification of predatory bacteria from a Microcystis algal bloom

Abstract

Water samples were collected from a hypertrophic lake, Hartbeespoort dam, where lytic or predatory bacteria were isolated. The water samples were spread on BG 11 agar plates where upon incubation, plaques were observed on Microcystis lawns. Two isolates were further subjected to screening to evaluate their lytic activities on Microcystis cells and identification. Isolates B2 and B16 had a lytic effect on the Microcystis cells with isolate B16 having a greater effect than isolate B2. Isolate B2 was identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri with 99.9% certainty and B16 as Bacillus mycoides with 99.7% certainty using the API system.