Bacteriophage Culture w/ E. coli

Last week in microbiology lab we cultured bacteriophages in this experiment. I filmed most of the process for review and uploaded it to YouTube. The T4 phages infect the E. coli cells and hijack their cellular machinery to replicate themselves. Once enough Progeny viruses have been replicated, they burst through the cell wall, lysing it. This will show up on an agar plate as a translucent spot where no bacteria is growing. After performing a serial dilution of our bacteriophage solution we transferred to the E. coli vials and incubated for 24 hours. The next day there were clearly plaques where the phages have killed E. coli cells.