Understand Gene Transfer In Bacteria Using Escherichia Coli

Introduction
Your day goes from typing on your keyboard or swiping on your smartphones but did you think you are safe? Those keyboards and smartphones are teeming with bacteria. Probably most of them are harmless but we could never be sure. It is very important to wash your hands after whatever you have done as bacteria can be easily transferred everywhere, from your surroundings to your hands, and to your food. Red flags are up when bacteria are transferred to food as these are often the cause of diseases. One of the most common bacteria that cause a disease is Escherichia Coli. Most of its types are harmless as these usually live in the intestines of both humans and animals. Yet, there are also harmful types that can cause diseases which can be ingested through contaminated food such as raw or undercooked meat, raw vegetables and fruits, unpasteurized milk, and dairy products made from it. You can also get it through drinking or swimming in a contaminated water or when you are in contact with contaminated animals as well as feces of people infected with it (Lim, Yoon, and Hovde, 2010) For Thousands of years, men have searched for ways to combat diseases. In the ancient times, they used plants, moldy bread, honey, and even animal feces to treat infections. A lot of Scientists have already found ways to make medicines that are the precursor to antibiotics but most notable of them all was the accidental discovery of Alexander Fleming of the use of penicillin which really paved way for the production of modern antibiotics (Gould, 2016). Yet, as time passes, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has again been confirmed when some of these bacteria developed resistance to modern antibiotics. The resistant gene can be transferred from one bacteria to another through three ways namely, transformation, transduction, and conjugation (Burmeister, 2015). This is a little alarming for there might come a time that most bacteria will already be resistant to antibiotics which means it will be harder for us to treat the diseases they have caused. Thus, it is important for researchers to dig deeper into this topic to be able to counteract and resolve the issue before it escalates. This paper will try to understand gene transfer in bacteria using Escherichia Coli. The E. coli bacteria will be able to gain resistance from Ampicillin through gene transfer using the method of transformation. This paper will also determine if the hypotheses above is indeed viable.
Method
The experiment started with two separate microtubes labeled as #1 and #2. Each tube contained transformation-competent E. coli cells. The control tube without the plasmid was tube #1. The experimental tube was tube #2 where a 5 µL of plasmid DNA (pGFP) was aliquoted. Both tubes were incubated on ice for 20 minutes and the bottom was gently flicked to ensure that it will be completely mixed. Four Petri plates were prepared while the tubes were incubating. The first two plates labeled A & B contained LB Agar. The last two labeled as C & D contained LB agar plus ampicillin. All four plates were also labeled with the group name and lab section number. After 20 minutes of incubation, the tubes were transferred to a 42°C water bath for 1 minute. Then the tubes were removed ...