We ended up having to do serial dilution a few times because our plates kept getting contaminated, but our last successful serial dilution resulted in the web pattern plate that we were able to isolate the DNA from. M. smeg is a type of bacteria that is easily infected my phage, so it was a good bacteria to use when trying to grow phage.
Yes, a plaque is basically the small patch where phage have fully infected the m. smeg (yellow on the plate) and have killed those bacterial cells. So, the spots on the plate are where the phage has killed the bacteria it infected, so it can tell us many things about the phage by the plaque it produces.
How was this experiment conducted? Is it easily replicable?
This was conducted in a lab starting with a plaque assay. It is easily replicable if you have the access to the correct facilities in a lab.
How did serial dilutions result in your second plate? What is m. smeg and why is it a good bacteria to use in these experiments?
We ended up having to do serial dilution a few times because our plates kept getting contaminated, but our last successful serial dilution resulted in the web pattern plate that we were able to isolate the DNA from. M. smeg is a type of bacteria that is easily infected my phage, so it was a good bacteria to use when trying to grow phage.
I am a little confused on what exactly a plaque is, could you explain that?
Yes, a plaque is basically the small patch where phage have fully infected the m. smeg (yellow on the plate) and have killed those bacterial cells. So, the spots on the plate are where the phage has killed the bacteria it infected, so it can tell us many things about the phage by the plaque it produces.