The Most Spectacular Discovery Of Deinococcus Radiodurans, The First Poly Extremophile Bacterium

This pBlu lab had for purpose to present the changes of the strain of E. coli bacteria due to new genetic information being introduced into the cell. In this experiment we are freezing and heat shocking the E. Coli bacteria that is then forced to take the plasmid DNA. The E. coli then transforms the pBLu plasmid, which carries the genes coding for two identifiable phenotypes. After following the Carolina Biological steps our lab worked well and we able to see some colonies of bacteria on the plates. The x-gal plate showed a significant amount of bacteria to confirm that the pBlu plasmid took over the E. coli strain.

Micrococcus luteus was first isolated and discovered in 1929 by Alexander Fleming. Is a gram positive bacteria that is commonly found on human skin, water, soil and dust. Since it is an obligate aerobe and thrives in the presence of oxygen, it is also found in the human respiratory tract. It takes the shape of cocci and is often clumped irregularly, in tetrads, or groups of four. It is also non-motile and does not form endospores. Although it has a specific optimal temperature range of about 37 to 45 degrees Celsius, it is halophilic. Micrococcus luteus is also catalase positive, meaning that it produces an enzyme that protects it from any harmful oxygen metabolism by-products (Bergey, 1923).

The objective of the investigation was to perform multiple experiments that would lead to the identification of an unknown bacteria. This bacteria was causing a urinary tract infection on a patient. A sample of the bacteria causing the infection was received and analyzed. The first step was to isolate the bacteria to insure that sample was free of contamination. A MAC plate, a PEA plate, along with a Nutrient agar plate where used to produce pure colonies by using the quadrant streak method on each plate. After a 24 hour incubation period the colonies where isolated. The bacteria collected was inoculated into slants, nutrient broth for cultivation. A sample from the MAC plate and the PEA plate were collected and gram

Deinococcus radiodurans is a member of the bacteria kingdom, belonging to the phylum Deinococcus-Thermus, and more specifically, the Deinococus genus. It is spherical in shape, and approximately 1.5 to 3.5 µm in diameter. It is usually found in tetrad formation: where four individual cells stick together. D. radiodurans isn 't known the cause any diseases, nor does it form endospores, and it stains gram positive. It is non-motile, and an obligate aerobic chemoorganoheterotroph. What makes D. radiodurans so unique, is its ability to withstand ionizing radiation, UV light, desiccation, and even oxidizing and reducing agents. When D. radiodurans was first discovered in 1956 by Arthur Anderson, it showed only a fraction of its amazing survivability. While Anderson was performing experiments to determine if canned food could be purified when exposed to high doses of gamma radiation: the meat still spoiled and from it D. radiodurans was isolated. Due to the fact that D. radiodurans can survive in such toxic situations, and that it is found in a wide variety of environments, scientists have long been toying with the idea of using D. radiodurans for bioremediation.

Microbes are bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. The earth was formed 4.6 million years ago. And a few million years later, by 3.5 billion years ago, earth was already inhabited by a diversity of organisms. The earliest organism is Prokaryotes and within the next billion years, two distinct groups of prokaryotes called bacteria and archaea diverged. Eukaryotes cell evolved from a prokaryotes community, a host cell containing even smaller prokaryotes .The microbial world accounted for all known life forms for nearly 50 to 90% of Earth's history. We are still researching microbial organisms today in marine environment, extreme environments. A microbial observatory is an NSF-funded project dedicated to the discovery and characterization of novel microorganisms and microbial communities of diverse

UV radiation, such as that from the sun can be very harmful. It has been shown to cause many different mutations within cells, leading to issues for the organism such as death or disease. One of the most prevalent sources of UV radiation for humans is the sun. It’s very important for us to know the extent of cellular damage that can be caused by this radiation, as to know how harmful the sun’s rays are to us as humans. One way that the damage caused by the suns radiation can be tested is through the model organism yeast. For this lab, we exposed two different strains of yeast to UV radiation to test its affects. One strain was able to self-repair, while one was genetically altered so that it could not. Observations were recorded at

Two miles underground in the Vale Creighton mine lies an advance lab far from the common world. In this lab many experiments are done from sub-atomic and astro-particle physics to the reactions of fruit flies to this underground environment. But one of the experiments is how organisms react to the absence of radiation underground and how it effects life. SnoLab the company in charge of this facility calls this experiment REPAIR (Researching the Effects of the Presence and Absence of Ionizing Radiation).

Prokaryotes are ubiquitous, successfully adapting to diverse environments as well as developing symbiotic relationships with host organisms (Lengeler, Drews, & Schlegel, 1999). Prokaryotes may have both autotrophic and heterotrophic characteristics. A cyanobacteria is photosynthetic, commonly called blue-green algae, and may produce toxins (Crayton, 1993). Bacteria are most commonly associated in the general

Figure 2. Sample of bacteria from figure 1 was incubated on a Ormerod’s agar plate in a gas pack for 2.5 weeks to isolate phototrophic bacteria. The isolated colonies seen in this figure, are called Rhodospirillaceae and they are why the colonies are a bright red color. The Rhodospirillaceae use the red pigment to harvest light energy.

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).

Within our oceans, lies an intriguing, vital bacterium. That bacterium is called Prochlorococcus Marinus. P. Marinus is a small cyanobacterium cell. This means that the bacterium is able to thrive on sunlight and produce oxygen as a result. Specifically, these organisms are found within the euphotic zones of tropical oceans. This is how the bacterium is able to access sunlight and carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen. These organisms are very successful because they are extremophiles. This means that P. marinus can survive in extreme conditions. Generally, Prochlorococcus is found to be within a temperate range of 10-33 °C. Some strains of P. marinus are able to thrive in depths with low light.

For millions of years’ bacteria have been surviving to their environments and been at war against other microorganism. This wars have lead them to creating an unstoppable arsenal of weapons they can use to survive. Unlike virus that need a host cell to survive, bacteria can survive anywhere since they can share their DNA with each other. This allows bacteria to survive in places like radioactive waste, zero oxygen environments, and even in absolute darkness. Unlike human beings who are born with a specific genetic code, bacteria have the capability of changing that code. Bacteria have three methods of evolving themselves in order to survive the harsh is of conditions. The three methods are called horizontal gene transfer. The first is Transformation, but some pathologists call it the “Funeral Grab”.

Microorganisms senses and respond to changes in environment. Certain types of Gram-positive bacteria species such as certain Bacillus and Clostridium species forms endospores when encountering environmental stress such as nutrient starvation [34] as shown in Fig 27. The bacterial spores differ significantly from the corresponding vegetative cells. Spores are metabolically dormant and exhibit resistance properties making them highly resistant to many treatments including extremes of temperature, radiation and chemical biocides[34] . The extraordinary resistance properties of endospores make them of particular importance because they are not easily killed by common biocidal agents.

2. Zion, Michal, et al. "UV Radiation Damage And Bacterial DNA Repair Systems." Journal Of Biological Education (Society of Biology) 41.1 (2006): 30-33. Academic Search Complete. Web 15 Oct. 2014.

Our scientists and geneticists have engineered biological entities to withstand extreme environmental conditions: such as extreme heat, cold, radiation, gravitational, dimensional (including extra-dimensional and interdimen-sional environments) – there is no situation they are not qualified to embrace.