What are the differences between the three classes of bacteriophages you mentioned? Also how are different clusters differentiated? (is it based on structure, behavior, etc?)
The main differences between the three classes of bacteriophages I mentioned are in the structure, specifically the length of the tail fibers. Clusters are just ways to group phages by genome similarity, so they are basically classified into clusters based on having similar genetic lineages.
You mentioned that next semester the genome of the phage would be sequenced. Are you planning on continuing this research yourself or will the sequencing be performed by another researcher/lab?
Enriching the phages basically just means providing bacterial cells in the proper conditions for phages to reproduce. Basically, we start with whatever phages are present in the soil and they are enriched when they replicate using the bacteria we introduce.
If the phages were temperate, the plaques would have looked cloudy around the edges as the phages stop killing bacteria and start integrating their genomes with the host cells.
curesymposium.org 
What are the differences between the three classes of bacteriophages you mentioned? Also how are different clusters differentiated? (is it based on structure, behavior, etc?)
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The main differences between the three classes of bacteriophages I mentioned are in the structure, specifically the length of the tail fibers. Clusters are just ways to group phages by genome similarity, so they are basically classified into clusters based on having similar genetic lineages.
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You mentioned that next semester the genome of the phage would be sequenced. Are you planning on continuing this research yourself or will the sequencing be performed by another researcher/lab?
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So there is actually a follow up class to this one where the department sequences the genome and we perform a bunch of analysis and annotation on it!
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You mentioned that you enriched your phage in the results section, how does that work?
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Enriching the phages basically just means providing bacterial cells in the proper conditions for phages to reproduce. Basically, we start with whatever phages are present in the soil and they are enriched when they replicate using the bacteria we introduce.
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What would the plaques have looked like if they were temperate instead of lytic phages?
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If the phages were temperate, the plaques would have looked cloudy around the edges as the phages stop killing bacteria and start integrating their genomes with the host cells.
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