pGLO Lab Analysis

pGLO Observations, Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 0 tan tan - pGLO LB/amp N/A N/A N/A + pGLO LB/amp 1 tan tan + pGLO LB/amp/ara 4 tan fluorescent green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	The bacteria are now resistant to ampicillin(antibiotic), and glow fluorescent green under UV light.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic. Because each plate has 100 microliters of bacteria spread on it, the number of bacteria is the same for each plate. The volume of 1 E. Coli bacteria is about 1 micrometer cubed, which is equivalent to 0.001 microliters. 1 microliter(the volume of each bacteria) is equal to 1, 000 micrometers (or 1,000 bacteria). Since there are 100 microliters of bacteria spread on each plate, and 1,000 micrometers of bacteria 1,000x100 gives the answer of 100,000 bacteria on each plate. 100,000 bacteria(micrometers) is equivalent to the 100 microliters spread.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	The role of the arabinose sugar is the key component for making the bacteria on the plate (which were resistant to ampicillin, and contained the plasmid) glow. It is a promoter of the gene, allowing it to be expressed.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science. GFP is a protein extracted from a jellyfish gene, which is commonly used to tag genes and cells of interest with its fluorescent properties. It can be used to identify expressed genes, making it easier for research scientists to observe their results. Some common applications are GFP being used to track and label cancer cells that can travel throughout the body. Some genetic engineers and breeders are also incorporating GFP into the cells of living things like fish(i.e. glo-fish).
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. The use of transgenic organisms, or creating GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in foods. A specific example is genetically modified foods. Some corn with GMOs can produce a poison to kill insects without pesticides. This contributes to the agricultural industry, making it a lot easier to produce mass amounts of crops without the conflict of naturally occurring environmental factors. Photos: Icing the tubes with transformation solution during the lab. Transferring the cold tubes to the heat bath. Incubating the tubes with and without the plasmid(-pGLO and +pGLO) Results after two days (under normal light0 Results after two days under UV light