Effects of bacteriophage traits on plaque formation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The appearance of plaques on a bacterial lawn is one of the enduring imageries in modern day biology. The seeming simplicity of a plaque has invited many hypotheses and models in trying to describe and explain the details of its formation. However, until now, there has been no systematic experimental exploration on how different bacteriophage (phage) traits may influence the formation of a plaque. In this study, we constructed a series of isogenic λ phages that differ in their adsorption rate, lysis timing, or morphology so that we can determine the effects if these changes on three plaque properties: size, progeny productivity, and phage concentration within plaques.

Results

We found that the adsorption rate has a diminishing, but negative impact on all three pla

SUBMITTER: Gallet R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3176204 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature