Development of a genetically modified bacteriophage for use in tracing sources of pollution

Bacteriophage are frequently used as biotracers to identify the source of w ater pollutants. Genetic manipulation of bacteriophage M13mp18 has been use d to enhance this technique by creating a library in which each recombinant bacteriophage genome contains a unique identification sequence. Techniques that identify a recombinant bactoriophage by the presence of the identific ation sequence, including polymerase chain reaction, restriction site polym orphism and plaque hybridization, have been developed. Recombinant bacterio phage can be used to test a large number of suspected sources simultaneousl y. The identification sequence also eliminates confusion with natural bacte riophage present in water samples, The performance of the modified bacterio phage and the techniques were assessed in simulated held trials on a restri cted site carried out under a consent for environmental release of a geneti cally modified organism. The techniques were also field tested at sites in northwest England using wild-type M13 bacteriophage.