On day 9 we talked about how we could sequence the DNA we made on day 4, to identify what bacteria were present. Nowadays there are computer programmes where you insert a DNA sequence e.g. ACTGGACTAG… and it comes out with the closest matched options from its database. Another, more accurate method involves you figuring … Read more
On Day 8 we observed the new growth on the agar plates and wrote down our observations. The bacterial colonies varied from several different colours, shapes and sizes which you can see in the image below. To see the individual bacteria we went through a procedure which involved using an inoculation loop to remove a … Read more
On day 5 we used a machine to find out the how much DNA was in each sample of DNA we got the previous day. Using the results from the machine we then found out how much of each sample we needed for the next thing we did. The next thing we did was run … Read more
On the fourth day we followed a set of instructions from a kit which involved adding different chemicals in a certain order to the smaller soil samples. These chemicals broke apart any cells of bacteria and separated substances in the cells that were not DNA. By the end we hand a small sample of all … Read more
On the 3rd day we did a serial dilution. A small amount of soil and SEM was added to a tube. SEM – Soil Extract Media – contains nutrients, atoms etc that were in the soil to help the bacteria survive. The tube was then placed on a rotator and then a daisy wheel (shown … Read more
On the second day in the lab all the different soil samples that were collected were split into specific amounts into 3 smaller tubes and one larger tube. This was so that when doing tests to find out more information about the soil and the bacteria within it smaller samples fixed weights of soil could … Read more
During our first day in the lab, we were first given a safety briefing and we then went to collect soil on campus to have another sample to use for future testing. When collecting the soil, it was collected from a rectangular plot along a W shaped line. The moisture and pH of the soil … Read more