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C 		Microbiology Schedule of Lectures and Labs

Current notes and guidance
July 01-02, 2008

Lecture will be concerned with the genetics of bacteria - particularly with regard to

  • chromosome level
    • haploid or diploid?
    • chromosome replication
    • conjugation and plasmids
    • transduction and phages
    • transformation
  • gene level
    • turning on and off of a gene (the lac-operon)
      in this will be the extremely important concept of "chemical analogs"
    • mutants

Lab will cover both the collection of data for drawing a growth curve, AND the induction of the lac-operon. Undoubtedly, THE important take-home lesson from lab will be understanding what a CHEMICAL ANALOG is, as this is fundamental to understanding the majority of pharmaceutical products. We will be using a chemical analog in our investigations of the lac-operon.

We shall be graphing our OD data to make wonderfully, beautiful growth curves. (What are the names of devices that can measure OD (optical density; aka absorbance or turbidity or cloudiness)? Colorimeter; spectrophotometer; or a nephlometer - each is different and operate using different types of physics.)

As the lab has a lot of hurry-and-wait (as we watch our cultures grow and get turned on, we shall carry on with the baby project.

  • The afternoon lab will score their bacterial phenotypes, and then consider what to do next.
  • The evening lab will plate their isolates from their streak plates onto differentiating plates (as the afternoon folks did).

Notes and handouts you should PRINT OUT for Week #7 are: