Hey All Removed plugs from SpeI enzyme buffer…

Hey All,

Removed plugs from SpeI enzyme, buffer and BSA, and washed in 1x wash buffer for 30mins. We removed this, then incubated them in 0.5x TAE buffer for an hour, while we prepared a 1.4% agarose gel. We then loaded 1/2 of each plug strain into individual wells, as well as the low range PFG marker, sealed with agarose and ran at 6V/cm, for 15 hours, with a 1-12 sec switch interval, and modified buffer flow.

Tomorrow, we will remove the gel, stain it and view it. We will also be filming our last videoblog! πŸ™ as it will be the last day of our project – 10 weeks has gone by sooo fast! We may also be running another gel, depending on the results of the first. See you all then πŸ™‚

Hello Today we removed the plugs from proteinase…

Hello,

Today we removed the plugs from proteinase K, and washed them in 1 x wash buffer 4 times, for an hour each. We then incubated them in 0.1 x wash buffer for an hour, then in 1 x SpeI buffer to saturate for an hour. We then removed and added fresh SpeI buffer, SpeI enzyme and BSA and incubated overnight at 37C. We also made up 500ml of 0.5x TAE buffer and autoclaved it for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we lost a few plugs along the way, due to instability. Tomorrow we will be incubating the plugs in 1 x wash buffer, then 0.5x TAE, before running the new plugs.

Hello Everyone Not much to tell today our…

Hello Everyone,

Not much to tell today, our new plugs contained far too much DNA and cells, and therefore were very delicate and almost all broke apart during the removal of proteinase K, and addition of 1x wash buffer this morning. We decided to stop production of these plugs, and begin again next Monday as plug making takes around 3 whole days in a row. Hopefully we can perfect the amount of DNA and cells present in the new plugs, to avoid this problem, through measurement of OD/cell density after addition of cell suspension buffer after centifuge.

I will be carrying on writing my final report for the project for the next 2 days, instead of being in the lab and start fresh with lab work and plug making on Monday! See you all then πŸ™‚

Hey All Today i came in and filmed…

Hey All,

Today i came in and filmed my latest videoblog. I then removed the plugs from speI, buffer and BSA, and added 0.1x wash buffer for 30mins. While this was incubating, i autoclaved 1L of 0.5x TAE buffer, which i then used to incubate the plugs for an hour. I then prepared a 1.4% gel, with modified comb to create a large well. Once this had solidified i added one plug of the low range PFG marker, one whole plug of restriction enzyme treated plug in the large well, and finally one 1/3 of a restriction enzyme treated plug in one well. I then sealed the plugs, and ran the gel at 6v/cm for 15hrs, with 1-12sec switch interval ramping.

Mike will be in tomorrow to removed the gel, stain it and view. He will then save an image for me to observe with him on Monday πŸ™‚ See you all then!

Hey Everyone Today was a loooong day Came…

Hey Everyone,

Today was a loooong day! Came in at 9am, and as the plugs were still fairly cloudy, Mike suggested we leave them abit longer to allow further lysis, and therefore make the plugs clearer. We made up a fresh solution of lysozyme, proteinase K and mutanolysin, and left the plugs to incubate further until 12pm.

I then began washing the plugs in 1x wash buffer, 1hr each four times. Once finished i washed the plugs in 0.1x wash buffer for an hour twice. I then removed the wash buffer and added speI buffer to allow the plugs to incubate for an hour. After this i added fresh buffer, SpeI enzyme and BSA. The plugs will incubate overnight at 37C.

I made appropriate modifications in amount of lysozyme, mutanolysin, SpeI buffer and enzyme etc. In order to compensate for an increase in DNA conc.

Tomorrow i will be filming my new videoblog, then incubating the plugs in 1x wash buffer, and in 0.5x TAE buffer, before setting up and running a new gel with our new modifications, that looked like they worked very well on weds.

Evening Today we washed our plugs as before…

Evening,

Today we washed our plugs, as before in 1X wash buffer 4 times for an hour each. We then separated our 5 plugs into separate eppendorfs, and put 3 in storage in fresh 1X wash buffer. To the 2 remaining plugs we added 0.1X wash buffer for an hour.

To one we removed the wash buffer and added 1ml of Spe1 buffer to saturate for an hour. We then added fresh Spe1 buffer, Spe1 enzyme and BSA, and incubated overnight at 37C.

We set up a new gel in order to run the unrestriction treated plug, to ensure that the DNA within the samples are viable for use. If we see one large band just below the wells, that is as clear or clearer as our best previous gel run, then we will run a gel with the same settings, but with restriction enzyme treated plugs.

We made up 3L of TAE 0.5X and a 1% gel. We removed the wash buffer from the other plug and added 1ml of TAE 0.5X buffer to saturate it. Once the gel had set, we cut and placed 2 non restriction enzyme treated plug sections and 2 sections of the new low range PFG marker into the wells and sealed with agarose. We ran this gel at the low range PFG marker settings: 1% agarose gel, 15 hours, 1-12 second switch interval ramping and 6V/cm.

I also filmed with Sophia and Barney, regarding their experiences in the lab so far! πŸ™‚

We will remove this gel tomorrow, stain it and view it. This will help us to decide whether to run the restriction enzyme plug, with the same low range PFG marker settings.

See you all tomorrow!

Afternoon Everyone Today we started the looong washing…

Afternoon Everyone,

Today we started the looong washing phase of plug making! We washed all 24 plugs (2 per sample, and 4 per 6919 strain sample) as before, 4 times for an hour each in 1X wash buffer. We then separated off plugs from samples 2-11, added fresh 1X wash buffer and put them into the fridge for storage. We then washed the 4 6919 strain sample plugs with 0.1X wash buffer twice, and separated off 1 plug (not to be treated with restriction enzyme Spe1). We then added 1X Spe1 buffer to incubate the plugs, before removing this and adding fresh 1X Spe1 buffer, Spe1 enzyme and BSA. We then left the 3 plugs to incubate overnight at 37ΒΊC.

While waiting for washes, we used online REviewer software to work out the number and size of fragments Spe1 will produce – 85 fragments ranging from 132702bp – 817bp, with the most fragments approx. 10000bp (100kb). We therefore decided to order BioLabs (NEB) low range PFG marker that ranges from 194000bp-2030bp (194-2.03kb), that will cover all the larger-medium size fragments only missing 4 smallest fragments. The image produced by REviewer is attached, showing all fragments along genome

Tomorrow, we will be setting up our next gel, using settings recommended by BioLabs (NEB) on the new ladder we have chosen to use. Hopefully we will have the new ladder very soon, so we can run it!

See you all tomorrow!

Evening Everyone Didn’t come into the lab till…

Evening Everyone!

Didn’t come into the lab till the afternoon today. Once we got in we removed the buffer from the plugs, and incubated them further in 1X wash buffer for 30 mins, at room temperature. While this was incubating myself and Jo made up 3L of 0.5X TAE buffer, melted agarose and then poured a new gel. The buffer was then removed and replaced with some of the 0.5X TAE buffer, that will be used to run the gel, to allow equilibration. We then cut and loaded 3 samples of fully treated Propionibacterium acnes DNA, 3 samples of Propionibacterium acnes DNA not treated with the restriction enzyme (SpeI) and 1 sample of lambda Hind III as a reference ladder.

Finally we sealed the plugs in with agarose and set the PFGE to run for: 12.7 hours at 6.0 V/cm with a ramping of 1-8 seconds, then 7 hours at 6.0 V/cm with a ramping of 0.1-2 seconds. We haven’t tried ramping before, but we decided to try this set up, as it is the method used in one of the journals we have been working from. Ramping is where one switch interval is used at the beginning of a time run, and another is used at the end, therefore over the time period the ramping slowly changes.

Tomorrow we will be filming our next videoblog, removing, staining and viewing our gel. As mike won’t be in, we will be discussing modifications and a plan for next week on Monday.

See you all tomorrow! πŸ™‚

Evening all Today consisted of A LOT of…

Evening all!

Today consisted of A LOT of waiting! We started by washing the plugs in 1x wash buffer 4 times, for an hour each! This is to make sure that all the lysozyme and mutanolysin was removed. The plugs could then be stored in 1x wash buffer at 4Β°C.

We then put each plug into a separate eppendorf tube and washed once with 0.1x wash buffer for an hour, and then once more to ensure all EDTA had been removed, as it will remove cofactors that are very important to the restriction enzymes we want to use next! We then removed 3 plug eppendorfs, and put them into the fridge, in order to compare samples that were treated with restriction enzymes and those who weren’t. We removed the remaining buffer in the other 7, and added 1x restriction enzyme buffer to each, and left for an hour, at room temp. with gentle agitation. After this, we removed the restriction enzyme buffer, and added fresh restriction enzyme buffer, restriction enzyme (SpeI, which cuts at ACTAGT) and BSA (which acts as a crowder to increase conc. and allow increased collisions). This is to allow the fragmentation of our Propionibacterium acnes DNA, which is on average 100kb size fragments. We then incubated the plugs overnight.

Tomorrow we will be finishing off the plugs, preparing a new gel run and running a new gel with our home made plugs and new modifications.

See you all tomorrow! πŸ™‚