What results would you expect from a quality control gel? How does the quality of DNA affect the potential of creating a new antibiotic or help against bacterial resistance?
A quality control gel determines the quality of the DNA that we isolated from our phage. It doesn’t have to do really with the phage itself or anything to do with its ability to be a good phage for medicine, it is more just a check to make sure that the DNA that we isolated is usable for further experiments. Also, it helps us know how much DNA we should use in an experiment like a restriction digest.
What do you think led to not being able to cluster your phage in terms of not getting clear enough bands? Is this a common error in this type of experiment or does it have implications about the phage itself that you collected?
We most likely didn’t get clear bands because we did not add the right amount of DNA. This is because we had to skip the quality control gel process which would have given us the correct amount of DNA to use. The error that we had is mainly due to the skip of this process, so it isn’t a super common error that occurs, but getting a clear gel isn’t a super easy process as it is. Our gel not turning out does not have implication about the phage itself.
Enrichment of the soil sample involves putting the sample into a solution of LB media and some bacteria to increase the number of phage in the solution so it can be plated.
What do you think led to not having clear enough bands to cluster your phage? Is this a common error in this type of experiment or does it indicate something about the phage you collected?
We would redo the restriction digest experiment. First, though we would want to do a quality control gel to make sure our phage DNA was isolated well, which we skipped the first time.
Our phage could be used in a phage cocktail to be able to help a patient with an infection. After archiving, our phage could be sequenced and more could be known about what it is like so it could be used to help a real person.
Yes, sort of. The cluster is determined by the restriction digest, but knowing the morphotype is also useful information to have because it can help make a prediction about the cluster, but much more information is needed than just the morphotype.
We can look at the bands on the gel and compare it to other gels. Where there are similar bands we can make a prediction about the cluster of our phage.
Great job on the presentation and poster. In particular: you did a fantastic job of walking me through the methods of your project. Lots of great questions have already been asked and so I’m worried I’m sort of restating what has already been asked, but:
What do you mean by cluster? And how would getting a more accurate prediction of the cluster help research going forward?
A cluster is a group of phages that are similar and may be able to infect the same bacterial species. Knowing the cluster of our phage is super useful because it tells us what bacteria it could possibly fight, so we can test it to be used in some sort of bacterial infections in people.
What results would you expect from a quality control gel? How does the quality of DNA affect the potential of creating a new antibiotic or help against bacterial resistance?
What is the most important part of the bacteriophage?
The most important part is probably its DNA. The DNA is stored in the head of the phage and that is what provides it with the abilities that it has.
A quality control gel determines the quality of the DNA that we isolated from our phage. It doesn’t have to do really with the phage itself or anything to do with its ability to be a good phage for medicine, it is more just a check to make sure that the DNA that we isolated is usable for further experiments. Also, it helps us know how much DNA we should use in an experiment like a restriction digest.
What do you think led to not being able to cluster your phage in terms of not getting clear enough bands? Is this a common error in this type of experiment or does it have implications about the phage itself that you collected?
We most likely didn’t get clear bands because we did not add the right amount of DNA. This is because we had to skip the quality control gel process which would have given us the correct amount of DNA to use. The error that we had is mainly due to the skip of this process, so it isn’t a super common error that occurs, but getting a clear gel isn’t a super easy process as it is. Our gel not turning out does not have implication about the phage itself.
Hi Evan! I have really loved your presentation, I was just wondering how you enriched the soil sample I am a bit confused on that still?
Enrichment of the soil sample involves putting the sample into a solution of LB media and some bacteria to increase the number of phage in the solution so it can be plated.
What do you think led to not having clear enough bands to cluster your phage? Is this a common error in this type of experiment or does it indicate something about the phage you collected?
To be able to test which cluster your phage belongs in which experiment would you redo to get more clear results?
We would redo the restriction digest experiment. First, though we would want to do a quality control gel to make sure our phage DNA was isolated well, which we skipped the first time.
Once you have completed these further directions and have archived and found the cluster, what other research can bacteriophage participate in?
Our phage could be used in a phage cocktail to be able to help a patient with an infection. After archiving, our phage could be sequenced and more could be known about what it is like so it could be used to help a real person.
Does the shape of the phage (size of head/tail) help identify what cluster it belongs to?
Yes, sort of. The cluster is determined by the restriction digest, but knowing the morphotype is also useful information to have because it can help make a prediction about the cluster, but much more information is needed than just the morphotype.
How exactly would you use the restrictive enzyme gel to determine the cluster of the phage?
We can look at the bands on the gel and compare it to other gels. Where there are similar bands we can make a prediction about the cluster of our phage.
Great job on the presentation and poster. In particular: you did a fantastic job of walking me through the methods of your project. Lots of great questions have already been asked and so I’m worried I’m sort of restating what has already been asked, but:
What do you mean by cluster? And how would getting a more accurate prediction of the cluster help research going forward?
Once again: awesome job!
A cluster is a group of phages that are similar and may be able to infect the same bacterial species. Knowing the cluster of our phage is super useful because it tells us what bacteria it could possibly fight, so we can test it to be used in some sort of bacterial infections in people.