Hi Rachel! We concluded the gDNA was degraded for several reasons. No one in our class was able to get bands in the gDNA lanes, our other bands showed up (so we added SYBR), and our other bands produced good product (so it seems we set up our PCR correctly). Fortunately, our gDNA and cDNA products were the same size (only 1 exon) so we felt comfortable moving forward with the primers. We are not sure how the gDNA got degraded, but sometimes those samples can be sensitive, especially to things like temperature.
Hi Arly! Conjugation is a way for bacteria or unicellular organisms to reproduce using two cells instead of asexually. Basically, the Tetrahymena cut up their genome and share it with another Tetrahymena.
curesymposium.org 
How was the gDNA degraded and is it possible the samples in the other wells were also affected by this?
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Hi Rachel! We concluded the gDNA was degraded for several reasons. No one in our class was able to get bands in the gDNA lanes, our other bands showed up (so we added SYBR), and our other bands produced good product (so it seems we set up our PCR correctly). Fortunately, our gDNA and cDNA products were the same size (only 1 exon) so we felt comfortable moving forward with the primers. We are not sure how the gDNA got degraded, but sometimes those samples can be sensitive, especially to things like temperature.
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Great presentation! You mentioned in the beginning that T. thermophila undergoes DNA damage during conjugation. What exactly is conjugation?
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Hi Arly! Conjugation is a way for bacteria or unicellular organisms to reproduce using two cells instead of asexually. Basically, the Tetrahymena cut up their genome and share it with another Tetrahymena.
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