Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Good morning, afternoon, or evening!

I recently enrolled in my school's Science Research class and am currently trying to come up with my research question. I have been researching for a few weeks now and I know that I want to do something with predatory bacteria, specifically B. Bacteriovorus, a gram-negative bacteria that is able to prey on other gram negative bacteria. There currently aren't too much research done on predatory bacteria, so I thought that I could test the bacterium's abilities to prey upon different types of bacteria. But this is where I get stuck; how do I apply this knowledge to an experiment? I don't just want to simply test the bacterium's predatory ability on different bacteria and have that be my entire project. I want a project that will be able to make a larger impact and be applied to other research. Any suggestions would help! Thank you!

Hi Lucyshang!


This is a really interesting project! Maybe you could test the predatory ability of the B. Bacteriovorus bacteria in various environments. For instance, you could measure the rate at which it consumes the other bacteria in various temperatures, various acidities, or various light intensities. This would have broad applications, as researchers could figure out common environments in which this species of predatory bacteria is most dangerous. Moreover, I believe your experiment idea in which you test the predatory rate of Bacteriovorus bacteria on various other bacteria is perfectly fine. You could make it more complex by doing thorough experimental analysis, for example doing research to find out genes which would make a bacteria most susceptible to other predatory bacteria, and then looking at a genetic database to compare your bacteria.

Hope this helps!
~Catherine M.

Hi!
For my science research project I'm growing and analyzing the bacteria that is found on supermarket and farmers' market produce, and I have taken pictures of them, but I just couldn't upload them. I originally wanted to ask if anyone could identify any of them, but since I couldn't upload them, I was wondering if there's any websites or resources that would help me identify them myself. Thank you!

moderator note: Please keep your posts on the same project together in the same thread. That way, the expert who was helping you will see your follow-up question. Thank you.