Bacteri The Natural World s Unsung Heroes - 1253 Words

Abstract- Bacteria are the natural world s unsung heroes. They receive bad rep due to the disease causing individuals like tuberculosis but the vast majority of bacteria on Earth are harmless if not beneficial to both the environment and humans. Take for example E. Coli a well known bacteria that lives within our intestines. This particular bacteria makes vitamins that we need in order to stay healthy. In this experiment we analyzed the changes seen in bacteria when adding to differing DNA plasmids; pUC18 and lux. To arrive to the most accurate results possible we had to have the E. Coli bacteria made permeable to the plasmids. So it was prepared with calcium chloride. One group of bacteria was given the pUC18 plasmid, and the other group was given the lux as well as the pUC18 plasmids. We then proceeded to incubate them in different containers. Some had ampicillin where as some had none. This was done in order to observe the effect of pUC18, and lux growth patterns. A control with neither pl asmid was used to keep a basis for our experiments. Bacteria that had transformed and taken in the lux plasmid without ampicilin were able to illuminate, and only bacteria that gained the pUC18 were capable of surviving with ampicillin. The results observed reveal how foreign DNA can be adapted to fit into another cell s DNA even incorporated to be an optimal part of the cell. This process makes it a very viable manner of being able to mass replicate advantageous genes, that would