Question

For part 1 of this lab) I collected a soil sample from my campus Part 2) Tested bacteria initial viability Part 3) DNA extraction Part 4) DNA quantification by Nanodrop Part 5) Sample sequencing Part 6) PCR amplification Part 7) Gel electrophoresis Part 8) DNA sequence data analysis (sent sample to another lab)

1) What type of conclusions can be made from initially culturing on nutrient agar (e.g., qualitative assessment, quantitative assessment, preliminary, estimate, descriptive, or bacterial diversity)?

2) What can be a hypothesis for this experiment?

3) What are the controls for this experiment? What are key environmental data to collect that cannot be controlled between samples?

Answer 1

Answer 1:)

The initial culturing on the plate gives quantitative assessment as it is performed for the viability. Data sequence analysis is a qualitative assessment as it gives information about the type of bacteria grown in the soil sample.

Answer 2:)

The design of the experiment is suggesting that it is performed for the isolation of bacteria and its identification. Therefore, the hypothesis would be as the following statement.

“Soil in the campus may contain an unrecognized bacterium species”.

Answer 3:)

The negative control should be double distilled water, as it will show no bacterial growth in the agar plates. The positive control can be a culture of a predefined bacterium species.

The temperature and humidity are the key environmental factors that cannot be controlled.