Phage folks who do culturing… how do you preserve your environmental samples for later plaque assays? I was taught just 0.2 micron filter & store in fridge but anecdotally hearing more about glycerol and freezing? Thoughts? Advice? Papers to read? Working with fresh samples isn’t an option #phagesky
This screams for “test them all! And compare the different methods”. I am sure there’s phages preferring the one over the other method :) but is this preference Pinkes to phylogeny/morphology/…? Good luck!
I was taught the same but at least two recent publications show how filters can contribute to a substantial drop in titre and how an environmental membrane containing phage was extremely fragile and so required special storage solutions. www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15...
Studies into the viral fraction of complex microbial communities, like in the mammalian gut, have recently garnered much interest. Yet there is still no standardized protocol for extracting viruses fr...
Ok they infect the bacteria then freeze them right after
I'll ask my phage pholks.
0.45 micron. We showed a while back that you lose approx. half of gut phages if you use 0.2. Store in SM buffer in fridge, but probably not the best option long term for less hardy phages.