• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.351-356
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• 2016

Bacterial blotch caused by Pseudomonas tolaasii is one of the major diseases of oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus. Application of bacteriophages is a very useful tool to decrease the density of pathogens and it has been successful to making disease-free cultivation area, known as phage therapy. Effect of phages on pathogen sterilization is very limited to the specific host strains. Minor variations of the host strains may cause changes in phage sensitivity. The phage-resistant strains of P. tolaasii were isolated and their pathogenic characters were investigated to improve the effectiveness of phage therapy. In the phylogenetic analysis, both phage-resistant strains and the corresponding host strains were identical based on the sequence comparison of 16S rRNA genes. The pathogenic characters, such as hemolytic activity and brown blotch formation, were measured on the phage-resistant strains and no correlation between phage-resistance and pathogenic characters was observed. Nevertheless, pathogenic characters were sometimes changed in the phage-resistant strains depending on the host strains. In order to make the phage therapy successful, the bacteriophages having a wide host range should be isolated.