How do bacteriophages produce plaques in a bacterial culture?

In microbiology, a plaque is a clear area on an opaque bacterial culture that signifies the destruction or inhibition of bacterial cells by a virus, specifically a bacteriophage. Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria.1234

Bacteriophages produce plaques through a process involving their life cycles:

• Lytic Cycle: Bacteriophages that follow the lytic cycle infect a bacterium, replicate within it, and then cause the host cell to burst (lyse), releasing new phages. This destruction of bacterial cells creates a clear zone, or plaque, on the culture plate.35
• Lysogenic Cycle: In the lysogenic cycle, the phage's genetic material integrates into the host bacterium's chromosome, lying dormant. However, under certain conditions, such as exposure to ultraviolet light, the phage can be induced to enter the lytic cycle, leading to the destruction of the bacterial cell and the formation of a plaque.56

Therefore, plaques are a visible indicator of bacteriophage activity and are used in laboratories to detect the presence of these anti-bacterial factors.1