pGLO lab

1. Obtain your team plates. Observe your set of “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light. Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table showing the number of colonies of each plate.

The table is at the bottom of the page.

2. What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?

They can glow under UV light, and they are also resistant to ampicillin.  

3. Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.

Each colony is the descendant of one bacteria. So we had 1, 9, 19 groups of bacteria. There are probably billions of bacterium in the plates now.

4. What is the role of arabinose in the plates?

To test and see if the bacteria took in the plasmid instead of waiting to actually test for something more difficult. If the bacteria didn't take in the plasmid, it wouldn't be alive.

5. List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.

You can see clearly what took in the plasmid. You also can see what kind of bacteria can take in the glowing plasmid. You can make a certain modified plant, and you can use GFP to see if your plant has taken in what you have tried to modify it with.

6. Give an example of another application of genetic engineering.

You can make certain bacteria tolerant to certain things, and you can also have plants produce food that contains other things. Such as rice with a certain vitamin that it doesn't usually contain. There are also drought resistant plants that you can produce.

Plate	Number of Colonies	Color of colonies under room light	Color of colonies under UV light
pGLO LB	1	white	purple-ish
pGLO LB/amp	none	none	none
pGLO LB/amp	9	white	purple-ish
pGLO LB/amp/ara	19	white	green