Download Biolum Bact Transformation Reading Qs

MolecuLab™ 115 Student Manual: Questions for Comprehension
Directions: Please rephrase the Q’s in the A’s, or glue this slip of paper nearby.
1.
Where do most bioluminescent fish actually get their glow?
2.
Mutualism is the win-win form of symbiosis. Explain how bioluminescent bacteria living inside a fish “win,” AND, how the
fish “win.”
3.
Summarize the chemistry of bioluminescence (the events of Figure 1) in your own words.
4.
What is (a) an operon? (b) a plasmid?
5.
Summarize the biochemical function of the lux operon.
6.
Explain the phenomenon of autoinduction. Why can’t a single bioluminescent bacterium glow?
7.
The plasmid we will use in our upcoming lab is recombinant. (a) What is the general term for the enzyme that cuts DNA in
a specific way? (b) What is the general term for the enzyme that joins DNA?
8.
Name the process by which bacteria scavenge DNA from their environment. Hint: The pneumonia bacteria studied by
Griffith and Avery did this!
9.
What are competent cells?
10. Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria are not naturally competent. How will we make them so?
11. What is the specific name of the recombinant plasmid with which we’ll transform E. coli? (Hint: see Fig.3)
12. What two sources of DNA were “cut and pasted together” to make this recombinant plasmid?
13. Why was the gene to resist (not be killed by) ampicillin included in the recombinant plasmid?
14. Why is the strain of E. coli that we will use, called DH5-Alpha, classified in Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1)? Read “Biosafety
Level” in Wikipedia and summarize the explanation.
MolecuLab™ 115 Student Manual: Questions for Comprehension
Directions: Please rephrase the Q’s in the A’s, or glue this slip of paper nearby.
1.
Where do most bioluminescent fish actually get their glow?
2.
Mutualism is the win-win form of symbiosis. Explain how bioluminescent bacteria living inside a fish “win,” AND, how the
fish “win.”
3.
Summarize the chemistry of bioluminescence (the events of Figure 1) in your own words.
4.
What is (a) an operon? (b) a plasmid?
5.
Summarize the biochemical function of the lux operon.
6.
Explain the phenomenon of autoinduction. Why can’t a single bioluminescent bacterium glow?
7.
The plasmid we will use in our upcoming lab is recombinant. (a) What is the general term for the enzyme that cuts DNA in
a specific way? (b) What is the general term for the enzyme that joins DNA?
8.
Name the process by which bacteria scavenge DNA from their environment. Hint: The pneumonia bacteria studied by
Griffith and Avery did this!
9.
What are competent cells?
10. Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria are not naturally competent. How will we make them so?
11. What is the specific name of the recombinant plasmid with which we’ll transform E. coli? (Hint: see Fig.3)
12. What two sources of DNA were “cut and pasted together” to make this recombinant plasmid?
13. Why was the gene to resist (not be killed by) ampicillin included in the recombinant plasmid?
14. Why is the strain of E. coli that we will use, called DH5-Alpha, classified in Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1)? Read “Biosafety
Level” in Wikipedia and summarize the explanation.