For further future directions, do you think that it would be worthwhile to try to catalogue all of Boulder? If so how would you decide where to obtain samples from?
The more worthwhile option would probably be to obtain samples from different places across the world to compare, but I was thinking more locally in terms of future directions I could take. I would most likely initially choose locations at random to obtain samples from, and from there be able to narrow my search down as I see the ratio of lytic vs. temperate phages in certain areas.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to personally collect our phage sample, the TAs did it for us before we came in person so I can’t elaborate on what the conditions were like. Generally, I know they collected the sample from a tree near the Porter building and Folsom Field when it was about 35º Fahrenheit outside. Phages tend to survive better in slightly cooler environments, so phages may be more plentiful when collected in this type of environment versus a hotter one.
You mentioned that the lysogenic cycle can convert to lytic cycle due to environmental stressors. What would be considered an environmental stressor and is it possible the soil you tested was exposed to any stressors?
Usually these stressors are things like starvation or the presence of toxic chemicals- basically it has to be pretty extreme for a prophage to choose to lyse the bacteria and separate the viral genome from the bacterial genome. For that reason, I don’t think environmental stressors really played a role in our samples collected as the environment wasn’t extreme.
For further future directions, do you think that it would be worthwhile to try to catalogue all of Boulder? If so how would you decide where to obtain samples from?
The more worthwhile option would probably be to obtain samples from different places across the world to compare, but I was thinking more locally in terms of future directions I could take. I would most likely initially choose locations at random to obtain samples from, and from there be able to narrow my search down as I see the ratio of lytic vs. temperate phages in certain areas.
Where did you collect your phage sample? What was the environment like? Would this have an effect on your findings?
Unfortunately we didn’t get to personally collect our phage sample, the TAs did it for us before we came in person so I can’t elaborate on what the conditions were like. Generally, I know they collected the sample from a tree near the Porter building and Folsom Field when it was about 35º Fahrenheit outside. Phages tend to survive better in slightly cooler environments, so phages may be more plentiful when collected in this type of environment versus a hotter one.
Where did you find your phage sample? Would this environment have an effect on your findings?
You mentioned that the lysogenic cycle can convert to lytic cycle due to environmental stressors. What would be considered an environmental stressor and is it possible the soil you tested was exposed to any stressors?
Usually these stressors are things like starvation or the presence of toxic chemicals- basically it has to be pretty extreme for a prophage to choose to lyse the bacteria and separate the viral genome from the bacterial genome. For that reason, I don’t think environmental stressors really played a role in our samples collected as the environment wasn’t extreme.