Download Lesson Plan and Objectives

Lesson Plan and Objectives
Objectives
To demonstrate diversity of bacteria found in nature via:
Culturing methods
Molecular Methods
To learn molecular techniques
DNA isolation
Agarose Gel Electrophoresis
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
To understand bacterial guilds and communities
To assess respiration that supports microbial growth in nature
To understand bacterial roles in bioremediation
Lab Session One
Pre-Test
Introduction to bacterial guilds and communities
Introduction to remediation and the role of bacteria in the process
Introduction to the wetlands as a remediation site
Trip to the wetlands to view the site and collect sediment samples
Plating of soil samples on general purpose bacteriological growth media
Isolation of DNA from sediment samples
(Protocol)
Lab Session Two
Assessment of diversity of bacteria from sediment samples grown the past week
Colony shape variation; pigment variation
Plating of single bacterial colonies from the sediment sample on antibiotic assay
agar to examine for the production of antibiotics
Introduction to Polymerase Chain Reaction
Set up PCR reactions with DNA isolated from sediment samples
(Protocol)
Discussion and demonstration of the use of molecular methods to identify bacteria
Discussion of the significance of using molecular methods to analyze
environmental microorganisms
Review of the role that microorganisms play in bioremediation
Presentation of respiration data
Post-Test
During the week following Lab Two
Gather results from Antibiotic Assays
Agarose gel electrophoresis of genomic DNAs and PCR products
And both of these will be viewed and discussed briefly at the beginning of the lab
period