DAY 1: *See below for instructions.*
Day 1 of the experiment is dedicated to making the media in which the colonies of E.coli will grow on. LB is the growth media used during this experiment. To learn more about media and its role click on the following link. Growth Media
The growth media provides nutrients for the colony to feed upon and continue to grow. The colony used in this experiment is E.coli. It was used because its genome is well known and the generation time is short. This is important because the E.coli needs to grow fast due to the small amount of time which is available to perform this experiment.
Step1: Making the LB media. LB Media Agar Powder Recipe
The LB media is divided into three tubes and labeled; LB/AMP/ARA, LB, and LB/AMP
Step2A: Into the tube labeled LB/AMP/ARA, ampicillin and arabinose were added.
Step 2B: Into the tube labeled LB, nothing is added. This tube serves as the control.
Step 2C: Into the tube labeled Lb/AMP, only ampicillin was added. This tube also serves as a control.
Ampicillin is added as a control and also to kill off the E.coli. This is done to show that it can not grow without the presence of pGlo. To find out more information about ampicillin and why it was chosen click on the following link. Antibiotic Selection
The Arabinose is added to the plates to help the E.coli, which contains the pGlo, become resistant to the ampicillin. The arabinose is also needed to help the pGlo gene grow.