Predacious bacteria, Bdellovibrio with potential for biocontrol.

Bacteria of the genus of Bdellovibrio are highly motile Gram-negative predators of other Gram-negative bacteria causing lysis of their prey. Here we report results of studies on the interactions of Bdellovibrio with species of Alcaligenes, Campylobacter, Erwinia, Escherichia, Helicobacter, Pseudomonas, Legionella, and Shigella in agar lower, liquid media and cells attached to a surface. Helicobacter pylori was studied employing both actively growing and viable but nonculturable (VBNC) cells. The majority of the bacterial strains tested were found to be susceptible to Bdellovibrio. A significant observation was that Bdellovibrio attacked both actively growing and VBNC H. pylori, that phenomenon has never been reported. The results indicate that bdellovibrios have potential as biocontrol agents.