Culture-Based Isolation and Preliminary Characterization of Bacteria Associated with Musca domestica Collected from Diverse Environmental Habitats

Abstract

The housefly, Musca domestica, is widely distributed across domestic, food-
associated, livestock, and waste environments and is frequently exposed to
microorganisms present in these habitats. The present study investigated the
cultivable bacterial populations associated with M. domestica collected from diverse
environmental locations. Houseflies were collected from eight sites, namely
household, fruit shop, fish market, slaughterhouse, poultry farm, swine farm, dairy
farm, and garbage site, and designated S1–S8, respectively. Samples were processed
using serial dilution followed by culture-based isolation on nutrient agar using the
spread plate technique. Bacterial growth was observed at 10⁻³, 10⁻⁴, and 10⁻⁵ dilution
levels, with differences in colony density and morphology among samples.
Morphologically distinct colonies were selected and purified by quadrant streaking.
A total of 26 morphologically distinct bacterial isolates were obtained from the eight
environmental sources. The variation in colony growth and morphology across
sampling sites indicates the presence of diverse cultivable bacterial populations
associated with environmentally exposed houseflies. The findings support the
importance of culture-based investigation of M. domestica as a potential carrier of
environmentally acquired bacteria and provide purified bacterial isolates for
subsequent microbiological characterization.