Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Bacteriophage Ecology Group Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Plaque Morphology

 

Description of differences especially in the turbidity of phage-induced clearings of bacterial lawns though also the size of those clearings.

Plaque morphologies can include bull's eyes, clear plaques, sectored or star-shaped plaques, the plaques of T-even phage wild-type versus rapid lysis mutants (which are small with rougher borders versus larger with smoother borders), plaques containing central zones of turbidity as often associated with temperate phages. Plaque halos also contribute to plaque morphology as to does the mixed-indicator method.

Plaque morphologies can differ with phage isolate, phage mutations, bacterial properties, and environmental conditions. That latter can include such things as temperate, media chemical make up, the density of bacteria applied to initiate the lawn, and the density of agar present in media, etc.

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