E. Coli: Bacterial Transformation

What was expected that the strains of E. coli that did not have a resistance to ampicillin would not grow. The transformed strain also changed to a blue color when the X-gal was present in plate. The transformed cells also grew because they were free of the ampicillin because they possessed the amp gene that they used as an shield against the ampicillin antibiotic. The transformed cell who turned blue did so because the gene converted the sugar to a blue color but also contained the amp gene to ensure that they grew even when the ampicillin was present. The growth of the colonies on the plates

The pGLO plasmid is engineered to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the presence of the sugar arabinose as well as the ampicillin resistance gene β-lactamase (bla) (Brown, 2011). Original E. coli HB101 do not have ampicillin resistance or the GFP gene allowing them to glow under UV light. In this experiment, we transformed E. coli HB101 with the pGLO plasmid by heat shock to make the bacterial cells competent, allowing the plasmid to enter the cell (Brown, 2011). The mixture of bacteria with pGLO plasmid were given recovery time after heat shock, then spread on LB/amp and LB/amp/ara agar plates. The bacteria mixture with no plasmid added were spread on LB and LB/amp agar plates and all four plates were incubated at 37°C for

This experiment was designed to test and observe the transformation efficacy of the pUC18 and lux plasmids in making E. coli resistant to ampicillin. Both plasmids code for ampicillin resistance, however, the lux plasmid codes for a bioluminescence gene that is expressed if properly introduced into the bacteria’s genome. The E. coli cultures were mixed with a calcium chloride solution and then heat shocked, allowing the plasmids to enter the bacteria and assimilate into the bacterial DNA. The plasmids and the bacteria were then mixed in different test tubes and then evenly spread onto petri dishes using a bacterial spreader, heating the spreader between each sample to make sure there is no cross contamination. Each of the dishes was labeled and then incubated for a period of 24 hours. The results were rather odd because every single one of the samples grew. Several errors could have occurred here, cross contamination or possibly an error in preparation as every single sample in the class grew, meaning all samples of the bacteria transformed and became ampicillin resistant.

The purpose of this experiment is to make E.Coli competent so that it can be transformed in order to become immune to ampicillin, then we would be able to determine the transformation efficiency of the culture. We determine this by preparing 4 plates of E.coli, each labeled “LB-plasmid”, “LB+plasmid”, “LB?Amp-plasmid”, and “LB/Amp+plasmid”. This meant that either should have lacked plasmid and Ampicillin, with plasmid but lacked Ampicillin, without plasmid but with Ampicillin, or were with Ampicillin and plasmid, respectively. Then we made the bacterial cells competent by adding CaCl2 to 2 vials of the colony (one with plasmids), and incubating on ice, then heat shocking, and returning to ice. Luria Broth is then added and left to sit for 5-15

The purpose of this experiment was to show the genetic transformation of E. coli bacteria with a plasmid that codes for Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and contains a gene regulatory system that confers ampicillin resistance. A plasmid is a genetic structure in a cell that can replicate independently of chromosomes. In this lab, the Green Fluorescent Protein, which is typically found in the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea Victoria, was cloned, purified, and moved from one organism to another with the use of pGlo plasmids. It was hypothesized that if bacteria that were transformed with +pGlo plasmids are given the gene for GFP, then transformed cell colonies

How does the addition of pGLO plasmid to a solution containing E. coli bacteria affect the growth and characteristics of the bacteria? Genetic transformation is the incorporation of foreign DNA into an organism to potentially change the organism’s trait. Plasmids are small circular DNA that replicate separately from the bacterial chromosome. In nature, these plasmids can be transferred between bacteria allowing for the sharing of beneficial genes. Due to this characteristic, plasmids allow for genetic manipulation and can be moved between bacteria easily. The pGLO plasmid utilized in this experiment encodes the gene for Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which under the right conditions can produce a glow. The gene regulation system present in the pGLO plasmid requires

This is proven by the survival of the bacteria in the LB/amp +pGLO dish, as the same bacteria that lacked the modification were killed by the ampicillin. However, we were unsuccessful in genetically transforming bacteria to be fluorescent. This is because in the LB/amp/arbo +pGLO dish, we were unable to locate any bacteria.

The pGLO plasmid will transform the E. coli bacteria with a gene called GFP that codes for the Green Fluorescent Protein in the genetic code. GFP was discovered in the jellyfish, Aequorea victoria as a green fluorescent light emitted from the jellyfish. It was typically seen in the dark upon its activation and since then has been used in studies relating to genetic transformation. (Chalfie and Tu 1994) The majority of the studies test the many different factors that are required in the transformation of pGLO which will determine the functionality of GFP in the E.coli bacterium. The first experiment in transforming GFP and E. coli was completed in 1994 by Chalfie and was further refined the same year. The experiment proved the importance of using restriction enzymes, and DNA ligase in the process of transforming GFP to identify arabinose as the primary activator, and to identify the ampicillin

The field of biotechnology involves the concept of genetic engineering, altering the DNA/genetic material of an organism using information from a different one. The process in which bacteria can obtain this manipulated genetic information from another source is called genetic transformation. The goal of this experiment was to genetically transform Escherichia coli bacteria’s DNA by inserting the vector pGLO plasmid which codes for ampicillin resistance as well as the green fluorescent protein, GFP. For the experiment, the E. coli bacteria were separated into two groups; control and

In our hypothesis we stated that only the container containing all of the components +pGLO, LB broth, ampicillin, and arabinose would be the one that genetically transformed. In order for the bacteria to grow at a rapid pace all it needed was LB broth but when you added ampicillin, an antibiotic, it killed off all of the bacteria. +pGLO has the gene to resist the antibiotic so when that was added it was allowed to grow but there was no sugar to turn on the glowing protein. Finally, after arabinose, a sugar, was added it turned on the switch located in the +pGLO for the fluorescence and enabled to grow and glow.

The transformation of E. coli using plasmid DNA was a success. The positive control plate had a near lawn of blue colonies growing on the plate. This indicated that the E. coli cells took up the plasmid and became ampicillin resistant. The blue colonies formed because the cells were able to produce β galactoisdase and in presence of X-gal the colonies turned blue. There were light blue colonies formed near the edge of the plate. This could due to the lower concentration of X-gal near the edge of the plate so those colonies were not really blue. In addition, there were too many colonies to count so we estimated the transformation efficiency of the positive control to be around 2000 units/μg. On the other hand, the negative is shown in figure

After analyzing the data recorded for both the agar plates containing ampicillin and those that did not, it can be concluded that the data provides enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. There is enough evidence to support the alternative hypothesis stating that there is a correlation between plasmids coding for an antibiotic resistant gene and bacterial growth in ampicillin. When a bacterial solution containing either pUC18 or the lux plasmid is transformed in an agar plate containing ampicillin, only those cells which took in the plasmid are able to survive and replicate, forming individual colonies. Not all cells are transformed though, the chances of a successful transformation were extremely low. In order to see which cell transformed the cells were tagged according to their plasmid, in the plates containing pUC18 the only

This was done by using DNA ligation and E.Coli transformation. We looked at agar plates to analyze which one of E.coli cell strains took up the vector alone of the vector containing the gene of interest. Four agar plates were used in this laboratory which were labeled Ligation, pGEM- T Positive Control, Competent Cells Negative Control, and Competent Cells Positive Control. Reagents were used such as DNA Ligase Buffer, SOC Media, Ampicillin, IPTG, and X-Gal. Ligation was performed using 2X ligation buffer, DNA Mix, T4 DNA Ligase and sterile dH2O. Then the transformation of E. coli occurred in which our 4 LB agar plates were prepared with the corresponding amount of IPTG, X-Gal and ampicillin gene. The next step was pipetting the content into the corresponding plates and SOC media was added.The transformation tubes consent were placed on the agar plates using a spreader. The plates were incubated at 37 Celsius and then will be stored at 4 degrees Celsius.The ligation plate was prepared by adding 100 µL of IPTG, 50 µL of X-Gal and Ampicillin. In the ligation plate, the expected color to be see was blue. However, in our ligation plate, we were seeing both blue and white colonies. Blue cells indicate that the cells take up the vector alone in the presence of IPTG and X-Gal due to Beta- Galactosidase expression. IPTG or

(Matthysse et al. 1996) The heat shock protein, E. coli is preserved as both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, however when using the GFP gene, eukaryotes work best. (Lai et al. 2014, Matthysse et al. 1996) The GFP causes the bacteria to glow in the dark, however in order for the fluorescent to happen the gene must be “turned on” in which there must be a presence of a sugar called arabinose. (Sun et al. 2010) The vector, pGLO plasmid, carries the GFP gene and a gene for resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin. The gene resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin is carried by the vector so transformed cell can be screened and by planting cells in ampicillin the only ones that survive by taking up the plasmid will grow and express the GFP gene. Therefore, I hypothesis that in the experiment, the only LB plate that will glow will be the plate labeled +pGLO LB, amp, ara, because it contains all of the necessary components that will activate the GFP gene which will make it

Bacterial transformation is the process of moving genes from a living thing to another with the help of a plasmid.The plasmid is able to help replicate the chromosomes by themselves; laboratories use these to aid in gene multiplication. Bacterial transformation is relevant in everyday lives due to the fact that almost all plasmids carry a bacterial origin of replication and an antibiotic resistance gene(“Addgene: Protocol - How to Do a Bacterial