Imaging the propagation of viruses

✍ Scribed by Yih Lee; John Yin

• Book ID: 102652008
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 527 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3592
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(19961105)52:3<438::aid-bit11>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

The propagation of viruses in a growing plaque has been measured using a digital image acquisition and analysis system. Plaques of phage T7 incubated at 37°C and illuminated against a dark field emerged as dark growing spots against a background of host bacteria. Images of the growth were acquired using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera at I -h intervals over 24 h. The first 10 h of plaque development coincided with rapid growth of the agar-immobilized Escherichia coli host, measured as a reduction in gray value. Following this period, the average radial velocity of plaque growth remained constant at 0.059 mm/h while the standard deviation about this velocity increased. These results suggest the suitability of the system for spatially resolving the dynamics of viral evolution during plaque growth.