How does an electron micrograph work? Why would we want to perform both an assay plate and a web pattern plate? You mention something about testing a “high tire/tighter lyse plate/lysate?” @ 1:55. What does that mean?
Hi Samantha! I didn’t perform the EM myself, but basically an electron microscope is able to take high definition photos of super tiny things like phages by using the light produced by a beam of accelerated electrons. The purpose of an assay plate is to isolate the phage, whereas the web pattern plate is used to calculate the titer (aka concentration) of our lysate. A lysate is the products of lysis (cutting of the bacterial cell wall) of cells, so testing the high titer just means calculating the concentration of plaque forming units of a plate!
Hi Nadine! You did a really fantastic job! What exactly does the “web pattern” in the description of figure 4 mean? What other patterns could this type of experiment take and what does this tell you?
Hi Therese! A web pattern plate is characterized by its similarity to a web pattern (think spiders!) so basically enough plaques to cover most of the plates, but not too many to the point where you can’t differentiate different plaques. Another type of pattern would be the 20-200 plaque plate; it’s not as cool as a web pattern, but it’s super important to calculate the titer of our lysate (lysate = products of lysis, or cutting, of cells).
How does an electron micrograph work? Why would we want to perform both an assay plate and a web pattern plate? You mention something about testing a “high tire/tighter lyse plate/lysate?” @ 1:55. What does that mean?
Hi Samantha! I didn’t perform the EM myself, but basically an electron microscope is able to take high definition photos of super tiny things like phages by using the light produced by a beam of accelerated electrons. The purpose of an assay plate is to isolate the phage, whereas the web pattern plate is used to calculate the titer (aka concentration) of our lysate. A lysate is the products of lysis (cutting of the bacterial cell wall) of cells, so testing the high titer just means calculating the concentration of plaque forming units of a plate!
Thanks so much:)!
Hi Nadine! You did a really fantastic job! What exactly does the “web pattern” in the description of figure 4 mean? What other patterns could this type of experiment take and what does this tell you?
Hi Therese! A web pattern plate is characterized by its similarity to a web pattern (think spiders!) so basically enough plaques to cover most of the plates, but not too many to the point where you can’t differentiate different plaques. Another type of pattern would be the 20-200 plaque plate; it’s not as cool as a web pattern, but it’s super important to calculate the titer of our lysate (lysate = products of lysis, or cutting, of cells).