Isolation of Bdellovibrio sp. from soil samples in Mexico and their potential applications in control of pathogens

In this study, two strains of Bdellovibrio were isolated from soil samples using the culture‐dependent technique and two members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (Klebsiella sp. and Salmonella sp.) as prey. The Bdellovibrio strains were bacteriolytic, plaque‐forming, and highly motile gram‐negative bacteria. We identified and confirmed the Bdellovibrio strains using microscopy, PCR amplification, and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. They were observed to be different strains based on hit locus and prey range analyses. Here, the first report on Bdellovibrio strains isolated from soil in Mexico corroborates earlier report indicating that populations of Bdellovibrio found in soil are heterogeneous thereby the need to identify the various strains. We characterized two strains of Bdellovibrio isolated from soil in Mexico. The two strains were observed to exhibit different phenotypic and molecular characteristics. Also, different gram‐negative bacteria were preyed upon by these two Bdellovibrio strains thereby suggesting the possibility of using them as future biocontrol agent against bacteria of economic importance.