I was setting up a teaching lab at a new medical school and wanted the students to do a classic heat shock transformation of E. coli. My selection marker was an ampicillin resistance gene on the plasmid. This was a lab I had taught for many years and a procedure I had used a lot in my research. I had trouble getting the bacteria to take up a plasmid. When I finally got it to work, I proudly announced to a bunch of medics that I had made antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the lab. They were not impressed and shocked when I told them that we regularly do it in the lab.
When growing two bacteria together that lack what the other has, my first assumption would be a mutual sharing of excess nutrients that balances growth. It is therefore shocking to me that in a single dish of two bacterial colonies can gain so much genetic material as to actually become independent. Thank you for your videos, I hope to understand bacterial gene transfer further soon, as I had no grasp of how rapidly information could be shared.
Wow! Shocking. I didn't know that, but I was not overly surprised. Bacteria are great at picking DNA, particularly any DNA that gives them an evolutionary advantage. They are sneaky wee things.
Yes, I agree. But as I said in a response to another comment, this video is a refresher, a reminder (helper), to help people who have studied the subject.
So cool! I'm taking a biology course right now, and it is inspiring to learn about the complex systems in nature. While watching, I had this question: how does a bacteria determine which genes to pass during conjugation? Using your auxotroph example, how does the methionine deficient bacteria know to donate the serine production gene to the serine deficient bacteria? Does it just donate all of its genes? Does it donate randomly? Please let me know, I have been very interested in biology lately.
Thanks for the comments and the questions. The passing of genetic information (genes) is pretty much random. The F plasmid integrates into the bacterial genome using homologous recombination - that is, the DNA sequence on the plasmid matches up with the sequence in the bacterial genome. These sequences are called insertion sequences (IS elements). The location of the IS element will determine what genes will most likely be transferred, i.e. the ones close to the IS elelment. The bacteria doesn't 'know' what genes to transfer. The bacteria transfers genes, and if they are beneficial, the receiving bacteria will live. If you watch this video - th-cam.com/video/tsGbmxeWsug/w-d-xo.html - which is on using conjugation to map the bacterial genome (we don't use this method anymore, we would sequence the genome), you will get some further understanding of the conjugation process and the transfer of genes. Thanks again for the comment and question, and please feel free to share the video with your classmates.
@@NickMorrisPhD sorry wrong words for developing within the provider dna info.darwin found birds who adapted but a bird won't change into a different species. Real science is rejected because we hold on out of habit, but entropy and time only destroys the dna not improves it .
@@NickMorrisPhD mutation is not evolution .rna viruses mutate a lot . But complex organisms changing into more complex or even different organisms is never observed. The missing links are all over the creation
@@wilbertthijsen3965 A few years back, I used an example in one of my lectures that showed one species of bird splitting into two. I can see the figure from the paper. As I recall, a mutation in plumage caused a preference for mate. Sorry, I can't recall or find the paper. As for entropy in a biological system - you are forgetting life. Life (energy) can reverse entropy. To take your example, yes, DNA will be destroyed if left alone. However, the cell expends energy to maintain, repair and duplicate DNA. I have a bunch of videos that explain this process - th-cam.com/play/PLW8ZtpMIRmEzeteVtDT6B30ydTY6j4I3U.html - hence, the cell (until it dies) fights against entropy. Also, you might want to consider this paper - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9029946/
without showing diagrams of this process, this verbal description is simply gobblygook to me. if you are really a teacher and aimed at educating others, you need to learn about how to communicate according to all students' learning modes.
Thanks for the comment. You make an interesting point. The above video is not a teaching video but a revision one. I would expect the person watching it to already know the subject and be looking for a reminder or different explanation of the material. If I were teaching this material to a class, the session would be at least 30 minutes long (possibly 50 minutes long) and accompanied by diagrams and animation videos. I would deliver the material in 10 to 15-minute chunks separated by an activity or a change of pace or direction. I would also support the material with online resources such as quizzes and additional reading. I structured the above video based on my observation of my students using TH-cam in their studies. That is, the student attends my lecture, works through the material online and then uses TH-cam to 'top-up' their understanding and as part of their revision process. I hope what I have said clears up any misunderstanding of the purpose of the video - it is not for teaching; it is for revision.
Plasmid-mediated resistance is one of the reasons I love microbiology. All started in my first lab with E. coli and beta-lactam antibiotic resistance
I was setting up a teaching lab at a new medical school and wanted the students to do a classic heat shock transformation of E. coli. My selection marker was an ampicillin resistance gene on the plasmid. This was a lab I had taught for many years and a procedure I had used a lot in my research.
I had trouble getting the bacteria to take up a plasmid. When I finally got it to work, I proudly announced to a bunch of medics that I had made antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the lab. They were not impressed and shocked when I told them that we regularly do it in the lab.
When growing two bacteria together that lack what the other has, my first assumption would be a mutual sharing of excess nutrients that balances growth. It is therefore shocking to me that in a single dish of two bacterial colonies can gain so much genetic material as to actually become independent. Thank you for your videos, I hope to understand bacterial gene transfer further soon, as I had no grasp of how rapidly information could be shared.
Thanks for the comment, and I hope you found the material useful.
Thank you forest man ❤
I do like being out in nature - particularly in the woods and there are some great examples near where I live.
Very interesting.
Thanks.
about 80% of home brine ferments have resistance plasmids floating around these days. ick
Wow! Shocking. I didn't know that, but I was not overly surprised. Bacteria are great at picking DNA, particularly any DNA that gives them an evolutionary advantage. They are sneaky wee things.
thx benny
No problem
Animations needed
Yes, I agree. But as I said in a response to another comment, this video is a refresher, a reminder (helper), to help people who have studied the subject.
So cool! I'm taking a biology course right now, and it is inspiring to learn about the complex systems in nature. While watching, I had this question: how does a bacteria determine which genes to pass during conjugation? Using your auxotroph example, how does the methionine deficient bacteria know to donate the serine production gene to the serine deficient bacteria? Does it just donate all of its genes? Does it donate randomly? Please let me know, I have been very interested in biology lately.
Thanks for the comments and the questions.
The passing of genetic information (genes) is pretty much random.
The F plasmid integrates into the bacterial genome using homologous recombination - that is, the DNA sequence on the plasmid matches up with the sequence in the bacterial genome. These sequences are called insertion sequences (IS elements). The location of the IS element will determine what genes will most likely be transferred, i.e. the ones close to the IS elelment.
The bacteria doesn't 'know' what genes to transfer. The bacteria transfers genes, and if they are beneficial, the receiving bacteria will live. If you watch this video - th-cam.com/video/tsGbmxeWsug/w-d-xo.html - which is on using conjugation to map the bacterial genome (we don't use this method anymore, we would sequence the genome), you will get some further understanding of the conjugation process and the transfer of genes.
Thanks again for the comment and question, and please feel free to share the video with your classmates.
Evolution is a fantasy . 😅
Thinking in evolution is constantly evolving! And bacteria (and viruses - think COVID-19 and Mpox) are great examples of evolution in operation.
@@NickMorrisPhD sorry wrong words for developing within the provider dna info.darwin found birds who adapted but a bird won't change into a different species. Real science is rejected because we hold on out of habit, but entropy and time only destroys the dna not improves it .
@@NickMorrisPhD mutation is not evolution .rna viruses mutate a lot . But complex organisms changing into more complex or even different organisms is never observed. The missing links are all over the creation
@@wilbertthijsen3965 A few years back, I used an example in one of my lectures that showed one species of bird splitting into two. I can see the figure from the paper. As I recall, a mutation in plumage caused a preference for mate. Sorry, I can't recall or find the paper.
As for entropy in a biological system - you are forgetting life. Life (energy) can reverse entropy. To take your example, yes, DNA will be destroyed if left alone. However, the cell expends energy to maintain, repair and duplicate DNA. I have a bunch of videos that explain this process - th-cam.com/play/PLW8ZtpMIRmEzeteVtDT6B30ydTY6j4I3U.html - hence, the cell (until it dies) fights against entropy.
Also, you might want to consider this paper - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9029946/
@@wilbertthijsen3965 would we see it in the fossil record? I could argue that we can see it in the DNA record.
without showing diagrams of this process, this verbal description is simply gobblygook to me. if you are really a teacher and aimed at educating others, you need to learn about how to communicate according to all students' learning modes.
Thanks for the comment. You make an interesting point.
The above video is not a teaching video but a revision one. I would expect the person watching it to already know the subject and be looking for a reminder or different explanation of the material.
If I were teaching this material to a class, the session would be at least 30 minutes long (possibly 50 minutes long) and accompanied by diagrams and animation videos. I would deliver the material in 10 to 15-minute chunks separated by an activity or a change of pace or direction. I would also support the material with online resources such as quizzes and additional reading.
I structured the above video based on my observation of my students using TH-cam in their studies. That is, the student attends my lecture, works through the material online and then uses TH-cam to 'top-up' their understanding and as part of their revision process.
I hope what I have said clears up any misunderstanding of the purpose of the video - it is not for teaching; it is for revision.