Areas of Science Biotechnology
Genetic Engineering
Difficulty
Time Required Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites A basic understanding of molecular biology and access to a laboratory where bacteria can be grown are required for this project.
Material Availability The kit required for this project can only be purchased through a school or educational business.
Cost High ($100 - $150)
Safety Adult supervision is required in the laboratory facility.
*Note: For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.

If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.

Abstract

Can bacteria be altered to produce life-saving insulin for diabetics? Or change color to indicate the presence of a harmful toxin? Yes, it can! Using biotechnology, scientists work daily on problems like these. It starts with selecting a gene you want bacteria to produce and creating a sequence of DNA that has that gene and a promoter that will help express it at the right time and at the right levels. The next hurdle is actually getting this engineered DNA into the bacteria and functional. One way of doing that is a method called bacterial transformation. In bacterial transformation, bacteria are treated in a manner which induces some of them to take up a plasmid of DNA and express it. It doesn't work for every bacterial cell though.

Just how is bacterial transformation done? How efficient is it? Does the efficiency change if you use different strains of bacteria? If the bacteria do take up the engineered DNA, is the level of expression always the same? You explore these questions as well as many others about bacterial transformation and the expression of engineered DNA using the BioBuilder What a Colorful World Kit from our partners at Carolina Biological.

The kit contains materials to do several transformations of two different strains of E. coli. The plasmids included have a pigment inducing gene under the regulation of different promoters. With the kit and access to a laboratory with bacteria growing equipment like incubators and shakers, you'll be ready to explore some interesting and real-world biotechnology.

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Credits

Sandra Slutz, PhD, Science Buddies

Cite This Page

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MLA Style

Slutz, Sandra. "Transforming Bacteria to Make Colored Pigments." Science Buddies, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/biochem_p013/biotechnology-techniques/bacterial-transformation-efficiency. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

APA Style

Slutz, S. (2020, November 20). Transforming Bacteria to Make Colored Pigments. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/biochem_p013/biotechnology-techniques/bacterial-transformation-efficiency


Last edit date: 2020-11-20

Experimental Procedure

For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.

If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.

Share your story with Science Buddies!

I did this project Yes, I Did This Project! Please log in (or create a free account) to let us know how things went.

Ask an Expert

The Ask an Expert Forum is intended to be a place where students can go to find answers to science questions that they have been unable to find using other resources. If you have specific questions about your science fair project or science fair, our team of volunteer scientists can help. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot.

Ask an Expert

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