Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Motility test- Hanging drop technique


MOTILITY TEST

HANGING DROP TECHNIQUE:

AIM:
 To observe the bacterial motility by following hanging drop technique

PRINCIPLE:

Hanging drop preparation is a special type of wet mount (in which a drop of medium containing the organisms is placed on a microscope slide), often is used in dark illumination to observe the motility of bacteria.
Hanging Drop Method Preparation
In this method a drop of culture is placed on a cover slip that is encircled with petroleum jelly (or any other sticky material). The cover slip and drop are then inverted over the well of a depression slide. The drop hangs from the cover slip, and the petroleum jelly forms a seal that prevents evaporation. This preparation gives good views of microbial motility.
 Materials required:
1.      Glass slides (glass slide with depression) or Normal glass slide with adhesive or paraffin ring, Paraffin wax, Loop, Coverslip, Microscope, Bunsen burner
2.      Young broth culture of motile bacteria (e.g. Proteus mirabilis)

Procedure:
1.      Take a clean glass cavity slide and hold a clean coverslip by its edges and carefully dab Vaseline on its corners using a toothpick.
2.      Place a loopful of the broth culture to be tested in the center of the coverslip.
3.      Turn the concavity slide upside down (concavity down) over the drop on the coverslip so that the vaseline seals the coverslip to the slide around the concavity.
4.      Turn the slide over so the coverslip is on top and the drop can be observed hanging from the coverslip over the concavity.
5.      Place the preparation in the microscope slide holder and align it using the naked eye so an edge of the drop is under the low power objectives.
6.      Observe the slide and Focus the edge of the drop carefully in the microscope.
Result: The movement of bacteria was observed under the 40x objective with optimum light background.

GRAM'S STAINING


Gram staining
AIM:
To stain the bacterial smear by following Gram’s staining procedure and observe their morphology and arrangements
PRINCIPLE
The differences in cell wall composition of bacteria account for the Gram staining. Gram-positive cell wall contains a thick layer of peptidoglycan. In aqueous solutions, crystal violet dissociates into CV+ and Cl – ions that penetrate through the wall and membrane of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative cells. The CV+ interacts with negatively charged components of bacterial cells, staining the cells purple. When added, iodine (I- or I3-) interacts with CV+ to form large crystal violet-iodine (CV-I) complexes. The decolorizing agent, (ethanol or an ethanol and acetone solution), interacts with the lipids of the membranes of bacteria. The outer mem

brane of the Gram-negative cell (lipopolysaccharide layer) is lost from the cell, leaving the peptidoglycan layer exposed. Gram-negative cells have thin layers of peptidoglycan. With ethanol treatment, gram-negative cell walls become leaky and allow the large CV-I complexes to be washed from the cell. The highly cross-linked and multi-layered peptidoglycan of the gram-positive cell is dehydrated by the addition of ethanol. After decolorization, the gram-positive cell remains purple in color, whereas the gram-negative cell loses the purple color and is only revealed when the counter stain, the positively charged dye safranin, is added.
Materials required:
Inoculation loop, slide, Bacterial culture, Bunsen burner, Gram staining kit
PROCEDURE:
Gram Staining Procedure:
1.      Prepare a smear over a clean slide and heat fixed.
2.      Flood the smear with crystal violet and wait for 1 minute.
3.      Wash slide in a gentle and indirect stream of tap water for 2 seconds.
4.      Flood slide with the mordant: Gram’s iodine. Wait 1 minute.
5.      Wash slide in a gentle and indirect stream of tap water for 2 seconds.
6.      Decolorize the smear by Flood with decolorizing agent (Acetone-alcohol decolorizer). Wait 10-15 seconds or add decolorizer drop by drop on slide until decolorizing agent running from the slide runs clear.
7.      Flood slide with a counter stain, safranin. Wait 30 seconds to 1 minute.
8.      Wash slide in a gentile and indirect stream of tap water until no color appears in the effluent and then blot dry with absorbent paper.
9.      Observe the results of the staining procedure under oil immersion (100 x) of a microscope.
Results:
§  Gram-negative bacteria will stain pink/red and
§  Gram-positive bacteria will stain blue/purple.


Wednesday, 26 June 2019

Isolation of genomic DNA from bacteria


ISOLATION OF GENOMIC DNA FROM BACTERIA
 AIM: To isolate the genomic DNA from the given bacterial culture.
PRINCIPLE:
The bacteria should be grown in Luria-Bertani medium at optimal temperature for overnight incubation. The late log phase to early stationary phase culture gives maximum yield of DNA due to active replication of DNA is taking place in this stage of bacterial cell growth.
         The genomic DNA not only contains total DNA but also RNA, protein, lipid, etc. Initially the cell membranes must be disrupted in order to release the DNA in the extraction buffer. SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate) is disrupting the cell membrane and then, the endogenous nucleases tend to cause extensive hydrolysis. Nucleases apparently present on human fingertips are notorious for causing spurious degradation of nucleic acids during purification. DNA can be protected from endogenous nucleases by chelating Mg2++ ions using EDTA. Mg2++ ion is considered as a necessary cofactor for action of most of the nucleases. Nucleoprotein interactions are disrupted with SDS, phenol or proteinase K. Proteinase enzyme is used to degrade the proteins in the disrupted cell soup. Phenol and chloroform are used to denature and separate proteins from DNA. Chloroform is also a protein denaturant, which stabilizes the rather unstable boundary between an aqueous phase and pure phenol layer. The denatured proteins form a layer at the interface between the aqueous and the organic phases which are removed by centrifugation. DNA released from disrupted cells is precipitated by cold absolute ethanol or isopropanol.
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
LB Broth, TE buffer (pH 8.0), 10% SDS, Proteinase K, Phenol-chloroform mixture, 5M Sodium Acetate (pH 5.2), Isopropanol, 70% ethanol, Autoclaved Distilled Water, Eppendorf tubes, 2 ml Micropipette, Microtips .
PROCEDURE:                                                  
1. 10 mL of mid- to late-log-phase culture (0.5 – 0.7 at OD600) was Transferred to a tube and the cells were pellet out through centrifugation at 7,500 rpm for 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded.
2. Pellet was Resuspended with 467 μL RNase A in TAE Buffer and transferred to a 1.5-mL microcentrifuge tube and Added 8 μL lysozyme and then incubated at 37oC for 60 minutes.
3. 30 μL 10% SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) was added and mixed with 3 μL proteinase K, which was gently inverted and incubated at 50oC for 60 minutes.
 4. 525 μL PCI (Phenol:Chloroform:Isoamyl) solution was added and mixed for 10 minutes by gentle inversion. This set up was centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 15 minutes.
5. The upper aqueous phase was transferred to a sterile 1.5-mL microcentrifuge tube, without disturbing the bilayer.
 6. An equal volume of 100% ethanol was added and gently mixed by inversion and Centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 20 minutes.
7. Carefully decanted the supernatant and thoroughly dry pellet at room temperature or in a 50oC incubator.
 8. The pellet was Resuspend in 50 μL TE (Tris-EDTA) buffer and allowed the pellet to set overnight at 4oC.
9. Presence of bacterial DNA could be confirmed by running 5 μL of product on a 1.5% agarose gel. Purified DNA would appear as a defined band when visualized under UV light.
Preparation of Reagents:
1. TE BUFFER (pH 8.0): 10 mm Tris HCl (pH 8.0), 1 mm EDTA (pH 8.0)
 2. 10% SDS: Dissolve 10 g of SDS in 100 ml autoclaved distilled water.
3. PROTEINASE K: Dissolve 10 mg of Proteinase K in 1 ml autoclaved distilled water. 4. PHENOL – CHLOROFORM MIXTURE: The pH is very important. For RNA purification, the pH is kept around pH 4, which retains RNA in the aqueous phase preferentially. For DNA purification, the pH is usually 7 to 8, at which point all nucleic acids are found in the aqueous phase. Mix equal volume of phenol with chloroform. Keep the mixture on ice and add 20 ml TE buffer, extract by shaking for 15 minutes. Remove the dust on the surface layer using a pipette. Repeat 4-5 times. Add 30-40 ml of TE buffer and store it on ice.
5. 5M SODIUM ACETATE: Dissolve 41 g of sodium acetate in 100 ml      distilled water and adjust pH with dilute acetic acid (pH 5.2).
6. ISOPROPANOL
7. 70% ETHANOL 
RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

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