Testing New Mycobacteriophage Genomes From Soil Or Water Samples

6. Humans should not be concerned about the bacteriophages infecting other cells because each bacteriophage is particular to a certain bacteria. If the bacterial cell exhibits traits that are desirable to the certain bacteriophage, then the phage will chose to bind and infect it, otherwise people have nothing to worry about.

One of these reasons is in regards to pathogens. If a bacterium is pathogenic, it is important to know the identity of the bacteria so that its characteristics can be examined and used in the treatment of the infected host. For example, if the identification of an unknown pathogen leads to the knowledge that the pathogen contains a beta-lactam ring in its cell wall, a drug targeting this cellular component can be used in the treatment of this pathogen. If this information was unknown and the pathogen did not contain a beta-lactam, the drug would not help the infected host. Another reason it is beneficial to identify unknown bacteria is for clinical uses. Many pharmaceutical drugs are based upon or isolated from products made by bacteria. Penicillin is an obvious example of a beneficial drug that was isolated from a mold. By identifying new bacteria and discovering the unique properties of a new or under researched species, beneficial medical products may be able to be derived or produced as a result. A third important reason to identify bacterial unknowns can tie into the safety and conservation of the environment. Because of the varying properties and abilities of bacteria, it is beneficial to identify bacteria that may be able to help clean up human impact. For example, Alcanivorax borkumensis, is a bacterium that has been discovered to aid in the cleanup of spilled petroleum. Other bacteria have been discovered to aid in eating pollution and other toxins in water. The identification of important bacteria such as these can lead to increased efforts in environmental conservation that use a more organic clean up approach.

For many years the identification of microorganisms has been important in the world of medicine. It is essential or correct disease diagnosis in patients and for proper treatment. Knowing the correct identity and characteristics of microorganism is crucial when disease outbreaks occur in populations, also knowing how humans can benefit from microorganisms is important; many can be used in making certain foods or antibiotics.

The overall goal is to either discover a new novel phage that has not yet been discovered, or provide new research on an already discovered phage. The isolation of the phage takes several steps under the streak protocol that is present in materials and methods section of this report.

The titer of recombinant phage was determined with the number of plaques on the E.coli K plates and the titer of total phage progeny was determined with the number of plaque on the E.coli B plates.

Titer of the Bacterial virus, the Measurement of the Recombination and the Reversion Rate, and the Gene Map Distance (Phage Recombination)

Two smears of the unknown bacterium #5 were inoculated while the second smear was used for a back up. The unknown bacterium dried for at least forty minutes. After the smears dried, the slides were heat fixed two times to ensure the stability of the organism. The slide was placed on top of the staining rack then over the small sink.

The main objectives of this experiment included making dilutions of solutions, plating phage or bacteria, and determining the number of bacterial viruses or phage in a suspension. It was also conducted to demonstrate that two different mutants of phage T4 can exchange genetic material to give rise to wild-type phage. The experiment was used to distinguish mutants from wild-type by their host specificity. The recombination in bacteriophage was performed to determine the concentration of unadsorbed phage from the U series plates, total concentration from B series, and concentration of

In June of 2011, a woman entered the National Institutes of Health Research Hospital in Bethesda Maryland with a serious, but fairly routine infection; however the subsequent events were to prove anything but routine. The woman was suffering from an infection caused by an antibiotic-resistant organism, but it was a new strain, never before encountered. About a month after she was treated and discharged, another patient came down with the same infection, and then more and more. After many unsuccessful attempts to isolate the cause of the infections, the NIH eventually used a new technology, known as "Whole Genome Sequencing," to isolate the pattern of infection and bring it under control. (Melissa Block, Eddie Cornish) This process is a new way to quickly isolate and sequence the entire genome of a particular organism, which the NIH used to help identify the pattern of infection. Of the 17 other patients who contracted the infection, six died, but it was learned that the pathogen can be transmitted in ways never before seen. (Melissa Block, Eddie Cornish)

Being able to figure out an unknown culture or bacteria is very important and a great knowledge to have. It helps people every day from finding cures to bacterial infections, discovering new kinds or simply just knowing the limits of what they are capable of. It allows scientist to know how to kill them treat then and ect. along with determining if they are harmful or benefit humans, and plants Along with being able to identify different species of

This project is all about isolating bacteriophage in soil. They come in different sizes and shapes, each to their own unique look. Phages have a protective protein head that contains DNA and a hollow tube tails (http://phages.org/bacteriophage/). Since bacteriophage cannot reproduce and replicate themselves, they need a host to do the work for

Plagues are clear areas in the agar medium that were previously seeded with a diluted phage sample and a host cell culture. Each plague represents the lysis of a phage-infected bacterial cell. Plaque forming units (PFU) are the number of plaques that are successful number of viral infections in the experiment. We can use the number of plaques to determine the number of viruses in a

The genome devolution, gene decay, and genome downsizing of the bacteria M. leprae may be responsible for the extra long generation times and the inability to culture the bacteria on artificial media. The complete genome sequence of M. leprae contains 3,268,203 base pairs and has a G + C ratio of 57.8%. These statistics regarding M. leprae are much smaller in comparison to M. leprae’s similar bacteria relative, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is comprised of 4,000 genes, 4,411,532 base pairs, and has a G + C ratio of 65.6%. In the total genome sequence of the M. leprae, only 49.5% contain coding-protein genes and 27% recognizable pseudogenes (Cole 2001). The major downsizing of the leprae bacillus must have occurred if one is to make the

Exploration into the function of each gene discovered will continue well into the 21st century. The knowledge gained from this will lead us to better understand the cause of genetically related diseases. Having the ability to recognize the causation of a disease will shift technology from trial and error treatments to specific drugs designed to treat the gene sequence and protein structure. This is called gene therapy and is the most exciting aspect of the HGP. It gives the

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is unique and mysterious because of its small genome and physical size. The bacterium contains only 500-2300 Kba in its genome that produces about 700 different proteins. (Emerging infectious