fairfolio
Saved Projects

Modeling Transformed E. coli Growth at Different Ampicillin Concentrations

CSEF · 2010 Microbiology

Daryl L. Chang · Saratoga High School, Saratoga, Santa Clara County

Overview

Objectives/Goals This experiment aimed to a) determine the ampicillin concentration at which maximum transformed colony growth occurs; b) develop a model relating ampicillin concentration and transformed bacteria growth; and c) develop a model relating ampicillin concentration and satellite growth. Methods/Materials The experiment involved three separate trials. First, I poured culture plates of 10, 50, 100, and 200 ug/mL ampicillin. After transforming E. coli with pGLO plasmids, I spread 20 uL of the bacteria onto each plate and incubated them at 70ºF for 72 hours. I then took pictures of each plate and used Photoshop to analyze the area of the transformed colonies and satellite colonies. Finally, I calculated the ratios and used regressional analysis to produce the mathematical models. Results Maximum transformed colony growth occurred at 100 ug/mL ampicillin, with the average colony occupying 0.4% of the plate. The growth of transformed bacteria growth varied linearly with ampicillin concentration up to 100 ug/mL and was modeled by the equation T=0.004[amp]-0.001. Satellite growth was modeled by the equation y = -11.8 ln[amp] + 122.3, with satellites occupying 97% of the plate at 10 ug/mL and 59% at 200 ug/mL. Conclusions/Discussion The mathematical relationships determined in this experiment can be generalized for all transformed bacteria. These models can determine the optimum antibiotic concentration quickly and accurately, and thus maximize transformed colony growth. They can be used in science research when growing new kinds of recombinant bacteria, or in industrial production of transformed bacteria to maximize secretion of products like insulin or human growth hormone. In all cases, larger and faster-growing transformed colonies will be the result.

Summary statement

Modeling and determining the ampicillin concentration at which transformed E. coli attains a maximum growth rate.

Help received

Poured agar culture plates with the help of Dr. Starr of the Tech Museum of Innovation. Used lab equipment at the Tech Museum.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2010 Microbiology · Entry S1703

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google