The use of Potentially Probiotic Bacteria for their Biocontrol Effects on the Foodborne Pathogen Human Norovirus GII.4 and its Surrogate Virus Murine Norovirus-1

This thesis is an investigation of potential probiotic bacteria for their biocontrol effects against the foodborne pathogen human norovirus (HuNoV) and its surrogate murine norovirus-1 (MNV-1). Norovirus (NoV) is the foodborne pathogen responsible for the largest number of foodborne illnesses worldwide, but there is a noticeable lack of therapeutics available. In in vitro infectivity experiments no significant increases in BV-2 survival were observed after potential probiotic treatment. The next objective was to asses the ability of six selected potential probiotics to bind to both viruses measured using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Lactobacillus rhamnosus was the only strain to cause a statistically significant reduction in MNV-1 genome copies/mL, indicating that it may be able to bind to MNV-1. For HuNoV GII.4, none of the probiotics caused a significant reduction, and only E. cloacae, the binding control, did. This work gives further evidence of bacteria-virus interactions, but more study is required.