Sterile glass plating beads (4 mm) provide an efficient and easy method to achieve optimal spreading on agar plates. The rolling action of the glass beads gently spread the E. coli solution (or any bacterial / fungal solution) to reach areas of the plate that are inaccessible to spread.
Multiple plates containing beads and E. coli solution may be stacked and shaken simultaneously to increase spreading throughout and reduce cell stress. The beads may be recovered by washing with 70% ethanol, sterilized by autoclaving, followed by oven dried.

Method to Use

For regular plating of ECOS™  cells, add 5 ~ 10 beads immediately after pipetting 50 ~ 100 µl of transformed cells onto each plate. Move the plate back and forth to roll the beads on the surface and change the direction of shaking a few times to ensure even spreading. When the surface of the agar starts to dry on the plate (20 ~ 40 seconds), pour off the beads and the plates are ready for incubation.

※ Pre-warmed glass beads at 37°C for ECOS^TM warm plating protocol (#2 & #4)
※ Pre-cooled glass beads at 4°C for ECOS^TM cold plating protocol (#1 & #3)
※ Room temperature for SCOS and YLOS Transformation Kits