Hi,

I’m troubleshooting a colleagues work here….

She made a batch of electrocompetent e-coli recently and is testing their transformation efficiency. While the cells transform, we are noting a lot of satellite colonies surrounding the main colonies, even where the plates are not that dense in terms of colony numbers. The plates are only grown overnight at 37 degrees so I don’t think its that they are being incubated too long.

What might be the cause of this?

The only thing I can think might be the problem is her antibiotic being degraded/the wrong concentration? (ampicillin)

Any other ideas would be gratefully received