The Discovery, Process, And Applications Of Transgenic Bacteria

In 1935 DNA was Discovered by a Russian scientist by the name of Andrei Nikolaevitch Belozersky (Woosley). In 1982 the FDA approved the first GMO product, the product was introduced as Insulin (Woosley). Insulin is a medicine that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. If there is too much glucose it could cause a form of diabetes. The first ever

In this investigation pUC19 plasmids were used as the vector due to its small size of 2686bp, high uptake efficiency by the host and fast replication time. Important features of this plasmid include the origin of replication and multiple cloning sites (MCS). The origin of replication allows the plasmid to replicate inside the host bacterium. The MCS is located within the lacZ gene and contains unique sites for the Xbal & EcoRI restirction enzymes to cut and produce sticky ends for the CIH-1 gene to bind to. Furthermore, the pUC19 plasmid also contains an ampiccilin resistance gene so only transforemed E.coli are able to remain viable when spread on the agar plates that also has the addition of ampiccilin. The lacZ gene encodes the β-galactosidase enzyme which aids in indentifying the recombinant E.coli from the non recombinant cells (Coventry University 2016).

In the pGLO Bacterial Transformation lab, Escherichia coli is transformed with a gene encoding green fluorescent protein by inserting a plasmid containing the GFP gene, beta-lactamase, and arabinose into the bacterium. Successfully transformed bacteria will grow in the presence of ampicillin and glow a bright green color under ultraviolet light. The sugar arabinose is responsible for switching on the GFP gene in the transformed cells, without it, the gene will not be expressed.

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

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

For this experiment, E. coli was best for genetic engineering because of their size, and their fast reproduction (Spilios, 2017). E. coli will be genetically transformed using an engineered plasmid. A plasmid is a circular piece of DNA which independently replicates and multiplies because it has its own origin of replication (Spilios, 2017). The pGLO is the plasmid used in this experiment. Plasmids are used as vectors and they contain manipulated genes such as genes coding for antibiotic resistance for drugs like ampicillin. This antibiotic resistance of such serves as the selectable marker in genetic transformation and for genetic transformation to proceed, the cell must reach competency which is the physiological state that is required for the vector plasmid to get into the cell for transformation (Spilios, 2017). While competency can be reached naturally in some organism, it must be reached artificially in E. coli through treatment with CaCl2 and exposing them to heat shock using incubation (Spilios, 2017).

Genetic transformation happens when a cell is forced to take up an outside piece of DNA, from another living organism (Weedman 2015). A competent is a cell that is able to take up foreign genes during transformation. When this happens though the organism accepts one or more genes which then can change how it looks, can change the traits. An example of this would be in our current time with medicine, when a person has old or destroyed genes we then can remove the parts of the DNA that are effected and inject or replace them into the body with healthier ones (Weedman 2015).

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

The focus of this lab was to identify which plasmid (PFG or Pglo) was inserted into the E. coli culture. In order for the E. coli to be transformed, the E.coli must first be made competent. The cells were made competent by incubating the cells in calcium (2+) and then in cold temperatures. A quick heat shot opens pores in the cell membrane and allowed plasmid DNA to enter the cells. The plasmid that was inserted into the E. coli culture had antibiotic-reistance gene and a reporter gene. A reporter gene is a gene that is easy to detect, and for this lab it could be Pglo or PFG. The cells were placed in plates that contained antibiotics to kill any bacteria that did not uptake the plasmid, this is necciary because about 1% of bacteria will be transformed. This allowed only cells that up took the DNA to

In this lab the genetic process known as transformation will be used to make E. coli bacteria cells glow in the dark by adding GFP. Transformation is when a cell’s genotype is changed by adding exogenous DNA. This process results in the cell accepting the added genes and incorporating them into the reproduction process, creating more cells with the new gene. Genetic transformation naturally occurs in some species of bacteria, however in this lab it will be generated artificially (Bacterial Transformation). In order for transformation to take place the bacteria must be competent. This means that the bacterium needs to be ready to take in the added genetic information from its environment. These genes are absorbed through the cell membrane (Genetic Competence in Bacillus Subtilis). However, for transformation to occur, a restriction enzyme is required.

Plasmids are small double stranded circular non chromosomal DNA molecules containing their own origin of replication. Hence, they are capable of replication independent of the chromosomal DNA in bacteria. Plasmids present in one or more copies per cell, can carry extra chromosomal DNA from one cell to another cell and serve as tools to clone and manipulate genes. Plasmids used exclusively for this purpose are known as vectors. The genes of interest can be inserted into these vector plasmids creating a recombinant plasmid. Recombinant plasmids can play a significant role in gene therapy, DNA vaccination, and drug delivery [Rapley, 2000].

Analysis of DNA from practicals 1 and 2 using the technique of agarose gel electrophoresis and analysis of transfomed E. coli from practical 2 (part B)

By using the ligation mixture formed in experiment 3B, competent cells undergo transformation in this experiment. The cells do not usually exist in a state of transformation ready but they can be made permeable to the plasmid DNA and the capable of transformation are referred as competent. Transformation is the uptake of heritable information in a competent cell. Competent cells care extremely fragile and need to be handle gently to ensure the success of transformation. Water bath is heated to 42oC as heat shock treatment to start transformation. The competent cells containing recombinant vectors can be identified through blue white screening. Cells containing recombinant vectors are able to survive on Luria Bertani (LB) medium supplemented with the antibiotic, penicillin. The cells transformed by recombinant vectors are plating on plate that containing isopropyl β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) which as an inducer of the lac promoter, and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl- β-D-galactoside or called X-Gal which is a dye that produces a blue colour when

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was discovered in 1944 by Avery and colleagues. Avery identified DNA as the primary genetic material. Watson and Crick later discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Leder and co-workers deciphered the triple nucleotide code that designated the amino acids from which proteins were built. The science of molecular biology was born (Sokol, Gewirtz, 1996). In 1990 a four year old girl who was suffering from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) was the first to undergo gene therapy. White blood cells were removed from the girl and the cells were inserted with normal copies of the defective gene and returned into the girls circulation. Her condition improved with four treatments and

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