c Polychromatic UV irradiation is a common method of pathogen inactivation in the water treatment industry. To improve its disinfection efficacy, more information on the mechanisms of UV inactivation on microorganisms at wavelengths throughout the germicidal UV spectrum, particularly at below 240 nm, is necessary. This work examined UV inactivation of bacteriophage MS2, a common surrogate for enteric pathogens, as a function of wavelength. The bacteriophage was exposed to monochromatic UV irradiation from a tunable laser at wavelengths of between 210 nm and 290 nm. To evaluate the mechanisms of UV inactivation throughout this wavelength range, RT-qPCR (reverse transcription-quantitative PCR) was performed to measure genomic damage for comparison with genomic damage at 253.7 nm. The results indicate that the rates of RNA damage closely mirror the loss of viral infectivity across the germicidal UV spectrum. This demonstrates that genomic damage is the dominant cause of MS2 inactivation from exposure to germicidal UV irradiation. These findings contrast those for adenovirus, for which MS2 is used as a viral surrogate for validating polychromatic UV reactors.
UV irradiation is a common method of disinfection in the water treatment industry. UV light induces damage to the genomes of bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, breaking bonds and forming photodimeric lesions in nucleic acids, DNA, and RNA (1, 2). These lesions prevent both transcription and replication and ultimately lead to inactivation of the microorganisms (3, 4). Direct UV damage to nucleic acids occurs at the wavelengths absorbed by DNA and RNA, in the germicidal UV region between 200 and 300 nm (5, 6). In this wavelength range, however, UV light also damages other cellular and viral components, causing, for example, photochemical reactions in proteins and enzymes (7,8). For this reason, UV sources that emit polychromatic light, across the germicidal UV spectrum, are considered more effective at inactivating certain pathogens than sources that emit monochromatic light at 253.7 nm (9-12). As polychromatic sources become more common, more research is being undertaken to understand the mechanisms of inactivation occurring in pathogens exposed to polychromatic UV irradiation.Male-specific (MS2) coliphage is a single-stranded RNA virus. It infects strains of Escherichia coli that produce F ϩ pili, which serve as viral receptors. The virion consists of a short singlestranded RNA genome (3,569 bases) surrounded by an icosahedral protein capsid, 27 nm in diameter (13). MS2 is commonly used in the water treatment industry as a surrogate for enteroviruses because of its similar size, shape, and genome composition (9,14). It serves as a biodosimeter for UV disinfection studies (15) and for UV reactor validation in North America (14, 16). For reactor validation, MS2 is also used as a surrogate for Cryptosporidium and adenovirus, despite the differences in UV sensitivity and spectral sensitivity between these microorganisms. Recent interest has grown regarding microbial ...