I'm not in a microbiology per se lab, we just use E.coli for amplifying plasmids for mammalian protein expression. Do you know if commercial companies like Zymo, ThermoFisher etc include checking for phages as a quality control step for their competent cell products?
A classic method for detecting prophages is Southern blotting.
Love your writing style! Very aspirational.
I'm not in a microbiology per se lab, we just use E.coli for amplifying plasmids for mammalian protein expression. Do you know if commercial companies like Zymo, ThermoFisher etc include checking for phages as a quality control step for their competent cell products?