Methods and culture media for production, quantification and isolation of bacteriophages

A method for determining the number of plaque-forming phage particles in a bacteriophage stock or a sample comprising or suspected to comprise bacteriophages capable of infecting a bacterial host, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) preparing a sterile semi-solid culture medium supplemented with mucin,
• b) adding aliquots of the bacterial host grown in a culture medium and a dilution of a bacteriophage stock or sample to an aliquot of the semi-solid culture medium obtained in step a) and plating the mix on an agar plate or a Petri dish;
• or alternatively adding an aliquot of bacterium grown in a culture medium to an aliquot of the semi-solid culture medium obtained in step a) and plating the mix on an agar plate or a Petri dish and adding a dilution of the bacteriophage stock or sample on top of the plated mix;
• c) repeating the previous step with a different dilution of said bacteriophage stock or sample, wherein each mix is plated on a separate agar plate or Petri dish;
• d) incubating the plates obtained in steps b) and c);
• and
• e) determining the number of bacteriophage particles in the stock or sample by counting plaques on the plates.