The goal of this lab is beyond teaching basic laboratory techniques; it is an opportunity to be part of a network
of global scientists and researchers in antibiotic discovery. This lab addresses the diminishing supply of effective
antibiotics worldwide by discovering potential new antibiotics from soil bacteria through modifying the Tiny
Earth curriculum. Previous studies have shown that adding food substrates such as wheat bran to growth media
enhances antibiotic production in bacteria. In our lab we observed that growing bacteria on apple Juice
modified trypticase soy agar enhances antibiotic production of certain bacteria.
Activity in this lab involves soil sample collection, dilution, modified media preparation, testing for antibiotic-
producing activity, rRNA gene amplification and DNA sequencing, and then using BLAST to identify the
antibiotic-producing organism. Ultimately, the results will be added to the Tiny Earth Database.
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