Genetic Transformation will be the primary objective of this lab, which involves the insertion of a gene into another to alter its genetic make-up, usually for a particular phenotype change. Since genes are universal in all organisms, they can be carefully tampered with to transform a particular organism's trait. For example, in agriculture, if you take the gene that codes for drought resistance (maybe from a cactus) and insert it into a corn cell's DNA, then the corn cell will in effect produce baby corn with the drought resistance gene. In the world today, this can be very controversial. This topic goes into depth for a number of reasons but one negative effect of this might include the limited genetic diversity of the certain species.
Specific to this lab, we will be using the gene from the sea jelly (Aequorea Victoria) that encodes for the Green Fluorescent Protein, or GFP. After the insertion of the gene into the bacterial plasmid, or circular piece of DNA, the bacteria should hopefully glow a fluorescent green under ultraviolet light, like the sea jellies do. Plasmids in bacteria are essential to their survival. Usually, plasmids contain one or more genes that code for certain traits that can be beneficial to their development. Bacteria in nature can naturally transfer plasmids from cell to cell, which also explains the recent occurrence of antibiotic resistance. Bio-Rad's pGLO plasmid which we will be using has the GFP coding gene, as well as an ampicillin resistance gene. However, when inserted into the bacterial DNA mix, the pGLO doesn't just light up the bacteria. The addition of a control, a sugar aribinose, must be added to "switch on" the GFP gene. Without the sugar, the brilliant glow will not show.
Some possible sources of error include interferences from the environment such as spores or fungi for example, or if the setting is right for the proper bacterial growth.
The results were extraordinary, yet somewhat depressing as well. As usual, Mr. Chugh's sample is perfect, yet the rest of the classes' bacteria was stunted in growth by the very low temperatures over the weekend. The environment was not ideal for the bacteria to grow, so most of our specimen were destroyed. However, under nothing but ultraviolet light, Mr. Chugh's bacteria were glowing! They were shining brighter than I could've imagined.
