Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am researching if there is an epigenetic code in bacteria after exposure to a different environment including available nutrition that is carried accross generations. I am trying to decide which type of bacteria I should grow to measure. I would prefer to grow the bacteria in my home, preferably without an incubator. Also what type of agar and petri dishes should I use? How should I change the amounts of nutrients in each dish? Also how do i keep everything sterile? I know to use gloves and new q-tips and whatnot, but how else can i keep the dishes from getting cross-contaminated with bacteria from my own house?

Hi,

Welcome to Science Buddies. I apologize for the delay in responding to your request. Here is basic information that should help you with the logistics of actually doing your project:

Here is the information on the rules for doing microbiology experiments from the Science Buddies website. You will probably need to have approval for this project, and for most experiments, you would need to work in a laboratory. However, do talk to your teacher; you might be able to choose a project that would not require approval;

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ents.shtml


Here is the microbiology safety guide:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... fety.shtml

Here is the website of a company that sells bacteria that don’t require preapproval. There is a video that shows microbiological techniques.

http://www.carolina.com/?s_cid=ppc_gl_c ... 4AodPS8dsg

Here is a list of potential bacteria; you would want to pick one labeled with a pink heart, and not on the potential pathogen list. Baker’s yeast, available at the grocery store, would be another possible organism that you could use:

http://www.carolina.com/category/living ... nd+sets.do

And here is the link to a list of microbiology resources from the Science Buddies website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ques.shtml

Now, tell me a little more about your project idea. It is a fascinating idea, and I am wondering how you are going to do your investigation.

Donna Hardy

Ok, so I decided on Micrococcus Luteus. How should I go about changing the nutritional content of the agar it is grown on?

Oh, and about my project. I plan on growing a few generations of bacteria on varying types of nutrients, and after a few generations, I will plant the different strains on the same, average nutrient agar and measure the size of the colony to see if there are variations in size. I will also explain the concept of the epigenetic code and tie it inwith the project. Does this all sound viable?

Hi,

Micrococcus luteus is a good choice for a safe organism to work with. For a really good science fair project, you need to start with the scientific literature. Here is a paper that studied the epigenetic inheritance of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18282299

The authors investigated different enzyme systems.

Here is a researcher who is studying this topic. You might do a search for other papers that he has published.

http://www.techtransfer.harvard.edu/cro ... php?id=113

I recommend that you try to find other papers from the scientific literature that would support your hypothesis. I could not immediately find anything on epigenetics of colony size.

In your project, you are going to look at colony size after growing on different types of nutrients. This is definitely a unique project, and I do encourage you to continue.


Donna Hardy