Rewrite the following:

This assay involves transferring bacterial colonies from the most suitable serial dilution plate onto an agar plate, then inoculating the bacteria onto a grid pattern made on the agar plates. Next, an ESKAPE pathogen is spread on the agar plates used, while one plate is kept without the pathogen for reference.

The description involves inoculation of agar plates, utilizing serial dilution, pour plate, spread plate, and streak plate methods to obtain pure bacterial cultures and perform antibiotic susceptibility tests like the Kirby-Bauer assay.

Explanation:

The process described involves inoculating agar plates with bacteria for the purpose of obtaining viable counts and later adding an ESKAPE pathogen to study its effects relative to a control plate without the pathogen. This is typically done using methods such as the pour plate and spread plate methods, both of which start with a serial dilution of the culture to ensure a measurable, sparse distribution of microbes. A streak plate method is often utilized to isolate a single type of bacteria from a mixed culture to achieve a pure culture. The isolated colonies can be used for further analysis, such as assessing antibiotic susceptibility with a Kirby-Bauer assay by observing the zones of inhibition around antibiotic disks.

After inoculation and incubation, observing colonial growth allows for the comparison between resistant and susceptible strains to the ESKAPE pathogen, guiding the application of antimicrobial agents. Laboratory exercises emphasize sterilization of the inoculating loop between streaks on the agar surface, to avoid cross-contamination and to ensure the isolation of single colonies, which are the clonal descendants of individual bacterial cells.