Plaque Assays are Used For

Question

Plaque assays are used for
A) evaluating the cancer-causing ability of a virus.
B) determining the density of phage in a culture.
C) the study of prions.
D) cultivating viruses that cannot be grown any other way.
E) counting the number of latent phages in a cell.

Accepted Answer

Plaque assays are commonly used in virology to determine the density of phage (a virus that infects bacteria) in a culture. The assay involves infecting a lawn of bacteria with phage and observing the development of plaques, or clear areas where the bacteria have been lysed (destroyed) by the phage. By counting the number of plaques, researchers can estimate the number of phage in the starting culture. The other options (A, C, D, E) do not fit the typical use of plaque assays.