pGLO Lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below.

Plate	Number of Colonies	Color of Colonies under Room Light	Color of Colonies under UV Light	Comments
- pGLO LB	carpet	cloudy cream	cloudy cream	looks a bit like sand
- pGLO LB/amp	-	-	-	Looks the same as before
+ pGLO LB/amp	264	Cream	Cream	A lot of small colonies
+ pGLO LB/amp/ara	50	Cream	Green	Bigger than +pGLO LB/amp

What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?

The +pGLO LB/amp/ara would glow under UV light, and you could see the center of the colony more clearly.

Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.

Thousands of bacteria, because many more colonies formed from that.

What is the role of arabinose in the plates?

The arabinose helped the bacteria glow under UV light.

List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.

GFP works with arabinose to make the bacteria glow under UV light, so you can see the cell.

GFP help biosensors work, which allow SOS-inducing activity of genotoxic compounds.

GFP is being used for gene cloning and construction.

Give an example of another application of genetic engineering.

Genetic engineering can help tomatoes grow faster, making more tomatoes.