Inhibition of Environmental Bacterial Growth from a Saltwater Tidal Creek by Ozone Impregnated Nanobubbles

Abstract

Michael G Janech, R Sean Norman, Alison Bland, Dasia Caldwell, Kevin R Beauchesne, Peter Moeller and Peter A Lee

Ozone impregnated nanobubbles (OINBs) have been studied as a disinfectant for aquaculture, but few studies have investigated the bacteriostatic effect of OINBs on environmental water samples. This study examined whether there is a dose dependent effect of OINBs on environmental water samples collected from Filbin Creek, South Carolina, USA, to determine whether OINBs can inhibit growth across a natural community of bacteria. Water samples were exposed to different fractions of OINBs from 0-50% and plated onto marine or TCBS agar. At a dose of 10% OINBs, there was a 97% and 98% decrease in bacterial colony number for TCBS and Marine Agar plates, respectively. Metagenomic analysis indicated a high prevalence of Vibrio spp. which were susceptible to OINB treatment. Resistant colonies at the highest volumetric treatment were sequenced and found to belong to the genus Bacillus. OINBs appear to be an effective method to reduce potential pathogenic bacterial growth in environmental samples.

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