Arthrobacter Phage: Abidatro

A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacterial cells. Abidatro is a phage of the bacteria Arthrobacter. While growing samples of the phage Abidatro on agar plates, our lab noticed that there was an inconsistency in the shape and sizes of the plaques, leading to the question of whether what we have was truly Abidatro or possibly another kind of phage. After designing primers for what we believe is an Abidatro specific phage gene, a variety of experiments including polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis were run to look for the presence of Abidatro. Through tests altering annealing temperatures, DNA concentrations, and varying cycle times, the gene of interest was able to be amplified. We are currently testing specific plaques of different sizes from the agar plate to determine if phage contamination has occurred.