Hi,
Just for a case no one responded to your query...
Since the phage is infecting HT-115 but not OP50 and it came from
nowhere, I suspect it may be the notorious T1 phage (very resistant to
drying up). Some lab strains are T1-resistant but some are not.
Since getting rid of T1 phase is not that easy, my recommendation is to
use other strains that are pronounced to be T1-resistant. In old days,
people sprayed the whole lab with cresol or phenol to get rid of T1
contamination! (At least I heard so.)
Good luck!
Satoru Uzawa
Meyer lab, UC Berkeley
Laura Mitic <lmit7870 at itsa.ucsf.edu> wrote:
> Hi,
>> We have recently experienced an outbreak of phage in lawns of HT-115
> RNAi-expressing bacteria seeded on NG-carb plates. The phage
> contamination is at very low levels (1-2 plaques per lawn, on about 1
> lawn out of 5, affecting only about 5 of 20 lab personnel) and seems
> to be specific to HT-115 bacteria since OP50 is not affected. The
> plaques are clean-edged and uniform in shape. Thus far we have been
> completely unable to trace the source. I'm wondering if anyone else
> has experienced phage contamination, where it came from, what you've
> done to prevent it from reoccurring?
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Laura Mitic
> Kenyon Lab, UCSF
>lmit7870 at itsa.ucsf.edu>>
