Spring break is upon us, so unfortunately this means that no lab time will be logged this week. Yet, a blog is still due...so this week, in lieu of any experiments you will find here the abstract I submitted to the Estrella Mountain Student Conference. Cheers!
16s ribosomal gene sequencing is a standard technique for identification of bacterial species in the laboratory (Janda & Abbot 2007). Preparation of a bacterial sample for genomic sequencing is initiated by extracting DNA from the target species and conducting a polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the DNA into a quantity sufficient for the sequencing process (Mao et. al. 2012). Nucleotide primers currently in widespread use by laboratories are targeted at specific variations of the 16s ribosomal gene found conserved among different bacterial species and are used during the PCR process to amplify the DNA sample. However, certain primers known as Universal Rice Primers (URPs) have been found to have universal application during the PCR across multiple bacterial species (Eun, et. al. 2002). This study analyzed URPs 2F, 4R, and 9F for universal application against eight bacterial species commonly found in laboratories. The bacterial species utilized were Salmonella enterica, Shigella sonnei, Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella oxytoca, Providencia stuartii, Serratia marcescens, and Escherichia coli. The study also identified six previously unknown primers for analysis of universal application across the eight bacterial species. The identified primers were PCAT-1f-2015, PCAT-1r-2015, PCAT-2f-2015, PCAT-2r1-2015, PCAT-2r2-2015, PCAT-3f-2015, PCAT-3r-2015, PCAT-4f-2015, and PCAT-4r-2015. The study determined viability of the designated primer groups for use in universal application during the PCR process to enable subsequent identification of the target organisms.
BTW, here is an interesting link to a lay article about cloning the extinct mammoth.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/woolly-mammoth-cloning-attempt-revives-ethical-debate-1.2867654
And an image from the same article @ www.cbc.ca:
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