Introduction

Experiment 1. Plasmid Purification and Restriction Mapping

I Introduction

II Background: Plasmid DNA Preparation

III Procedure

IV Laboratory Report [Class 4 (Draft) and Class 5]

V Questions (Class 5)

VI In-Class Writing Exercise (Class 2)

VII Restriction Mapping Exercises (Class 3)

VIII In-Class Writing Exercise (Class 4)

Experiment 2. Affinity Purification of Histidine-Tagged FnbA Protein

I Introduction

II Background

III Procedure

IV Laboratory Report

V Critique of Paper by Bush et al.

Experiment 3. Polymerase Chain Reaction and DNA Sequence Analysis of Bacterial Ribosomal RNA Genes

I Introduction

II Background

III Procedure

IV Laboratory Report [Class 16 (Draft) and Class 17]

V Questions (Class 17)

VI In-Class Writing Exercise (Class 10)

Experiment 4. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis of 16S Ribosomal RNA Genes from Uncultured Bacterial Communities

I Introduction

II Background

III Procedure

IV Laboratory Report

V Questions (Class 20)

VI Writing Exercise: Editorial on Genetically Modified Crops [Class 14 (Draft) and Class 15]

VII Writing Assignment: Literature Search Problem [Class 14 (Begin) and Class 20]

VIII In-Class Writing Exercise (Class 15)

APPENDIX A: Sample Laboratory Reports

APPENDIX B: Sample Proposals

APPENDIX C: Sample Tests

APPENDIX D: Guidance for Presentations

APPENDIX E: Revised Paragraph from J. Biol. Chem. 266: 3811–3814 (1991)

APPENDIX F: Abstract from Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63: 2647–2653 (1997)

APPENDIX G: Sequence Editing Tutorial

APPENDIX H: Peak Scanner Tutorial

APPENDIX I: Adding Size Standards to Peak Scanner

APPENDIX J: PRIMER Tutorial

APPENDIX K: Checklist for Grading Laboratory Reports

APPENDIX L: Peer Review Checklist

APPENDIX M: Career Advice

APPENDIX N: Molecular Microbiology Laboratory Preparation Manual

Bibliography

Index