Because we discovered a new phage, we were able to name it “ZucchiniBread”. So this is just the name of our phage, it doesn’t mean our phage is the actual food.
A lytic phage will replicate, transcribe, and then assemble new phages within the bacterial host cell. Then these baby phages will lyse (burst) the host cell and go to infect new bacteria. Temperate phages that are in the lysogenic cycle will integrate their DNA into the bacterial chromosome, but not transcribe viral proteins or lyse the host cell. On an L-agar plate, this means a lytic phage will produce clear plaques, while lysogens will produce plaques with a clear center and a fuzzy halo.
Lytic phages will only ever be able to undergo the lytic cycle. Temperate phages can switch from the lysogenic cycle to the lytic cycle when environmental conditions cause the bacterial host cell to weaken, for example by restricted access to nutrients (starvation).
I believe the faint bands at the bottom of the gel are the primers that were mixed with our phage DNA in order to amplify it, wherein they have separated from the DNA and migrated to the end of the gel size they are very small in size.
The titer of a phage indicates the number of plaques formed per milliliter of phage lysate. This is important to know when characterizing a new phage because it reveals at which dilution a phage produces the most, clearly distinguishable plaques (infections) which is ideal for uses in phage therapy.
Im a little confused on the “Phage ZucchiniBread”. This might just be because Im not well versed in this field but how is ZucchiniBread a phage?
Because we discovered a new phage, we were able to name it “ZucchiniBread”. So this is just the name of our phage, it doesn’t mean our phage is the actual food.
Hey Sophie,
How can you tell when a phage enters a lytic or lysogenic cycle?
A lytic phage will replicate, transcribe, and then assemble new phages within the bacterial host cell. Then these baby phages will lyse (burst) the host cell and go to infect new bacteria. Temperate phages that are in the lysogenic cycle will integrate their DNA into the bacterial chromosome, but not transcribe viral proteins or lyse the host cell. On an L-agar plate, this means a lytic phage will produce clear plaques, while lysogens will produce plaques with a clear center and a fuzzy halo.
Hey Sophie,
What are the potential causes that can revert the phage to the lytic or lysogenic cycles?
Lytic phages will only ever be able to undergo the lytic cycle. Temperate phages can switch from the lysogenic cycle to the lytic cycle when environmental conditions cause the bacterial host cell to weaken, for example by restricted access to nutrients (starvation).
What do you think the faint bands at the bottom of the gel in figure 4 represent (~0.5 Kb)?
I believe the faint bands at the bottom of the gel are the primers that were mixed with our phage DNA in order to amplify it, wherein they have separated from the DNA and migrated to the end of the gel size they are very small in size.
What exactly does the titer indicate and how is it relevant/important to what you are studying?
The titer of a phage indicates the number of plaques formed per milliliter of phage lysate. This is important to know when characterizing a new phage because it reveals at which dilution a phage produces the most, clearly distinguishable plaques (infections) which is ideal for uses in phage therapy.