Adsorption of bacteriophages on polypropylene labware affects the reproducibility of phage research

Hydrophobicity is one of the most critical factors governing the adsorption of molecules and objects, such as virions, on surfaces. Even moderate change of wetting angle of plastic surfaces causes a drastic decrease ranging from 2 to 5 logs of the viruses (e.g., T4 phage) in the suspension due to ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-04, Vol.11 (1), p.7387-7387, Article 7387
Main Authors: Richter, Łukasz, Księżarczyk, Karolina, Paszkowska, Karolina, Janczuk-Richter, Marta, Niedziółka-Jönsson, Joanna, Gapiński, Jacek, Łoś, Marcin, Hołyst, Robert, Paczesny, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/326/1321
631/61/350
639/166/985
639/301/923/1028
639/638/542
639/925/930/1032
Adsorption
Antibiotics
Containers
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrophobicity
multidisciplinary
Phages
Polyethylene
Polymers
Polypropylene
Polystyrene
Reproducibility
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Virions
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Summary:Hydrophobicity is one of the most critical factors governing the adsorption of molecules and objects, such as virions, on surfaces. Even moderate change of wetting angle of plastic surfaces causes a drastic decrease ranging from 2 to 5 logs of the viruses (e.g., T4 phage) in the suspension due to adsorption on polymer vials' walls. The effect varies immensely in seemingly identical containers but purchased from different vendors. Comparison of glass, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene containers revealed a threshold in the wetting angle of around 95°: virions adsorb on the surface of more hydrophobic containers, while in more hydrophilic vials, phage suspensions are stable. The polypropylene surface of the Eppendorf-type and Falcon-type can accommodate from around 10 8 PFU/ml to around 10 10 PFU/ml from the suspension. The adsorption onto the container’s wall might result in complete scavenging of virions from the bulk. We developed two methods to overcome this issue. The addition of surfactant Tween20 and/or plasma treatment provides a remedy by modulating surface wettability and inhibiting virions' adsorption. Plastic containers are essential consumables in the daily use of many bio-laboratories. Thus, this is important not only for phage-related research (e.g., the use of phage therapies as an alternative for antibiotics) but also for data comparison and reproducibility in the field of biochemistry and virology.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-86571-x