When we have our Phage we are ready to study it and to verify if this phage is suitable for Phage Therapy.
Outline
A good outline from HHMI is reported below with a small modification:
• extracting bacteriophages from a local soil sample or from a fresch water sample or from a patient sample or from a sewage sample;
• purify bacteriophages by plating and growing on a lawn of bacteria;
• further purifying a single bacteriophage by picking plaques and making a concentrated stock;
• isolating the bacteriophage DNA;
• preparing the bacteriophage DNA for sequencing ;
• digesting a sample of bacteriophage DNA with restriction enzymes and analyzing the fragments by electrophoresis and comparing fragment pattern to other samples;
• preparing a bacteriophage sample for electron microscopy;
• characterizing the bacteriophage type/structure from electron micrographs;
• annotating segments of the genome to identify open reading frames, genes, and regulatory sequences;
• comparing this bacteriophage genome to other sequenced bacteriophage genomes;
• comparing and analyzing the amino acid sequence to reveal relationships between species;
• using Web-based tools and software programs for these activities;
• following up any unusual features that emerge, such as genes transferred from the host bacterial genome to the phage genome;
How do we Sequence DNA?
DNA Sequencing from Wikipedia
DNA Sequencing and Animations
The Sanger Method
