4 Infectious Bacterial Identification from DNA - Lab Report Example

Infectious Bacterial Identification from DNA Sequencing Infectious Bacterial Identification from DNA Sequencing Other ways of identifying bacteria such as Grahm staining and Ziehl-Neelsen staining which use staining of the bacteria using a special dye prove to be inefficient in comparison to genetic testing method that use DNA sequencing. Genetic testing has an advantage over the other methods due to its ability to identify the species that a bacterium belongs to rather than identifying only its genus.

DNA sequencing involve identifying the DNA sequence of a bacterium then multiplying the DNA strands using the polymerase reaction that generate a lot of DNA strands for testing to note variations in different species (Witkowski 2005).IntroductionIt is difficult to identify bacterial pathogens using the common lab processes which include morphological methods and biochemical procedures (Reece et al 2012). Bacteria that are difficult to identify yield inconsistent results when analysts use these manual procedures of bacteria identification.

However, the DNA sequencing method offers a better solution of identifying different types of bacteria. This report offers the procedure of identifying Burkholderia cepacia, a bacterium that causes cold in small children.MaterialsDNA extractions from blood samples, Microbial DNA kit, culture, Carlsbad (CA) solution and oxynucleoside triphosphate.MethodCollect blood samples from different patients suffering from cold.To extract a DNA strand from the bacterium, use the Microbial DNA kit to identify a DNA strand in the bacterium then add a little culture with some Carlsbad solution.

Leave the DNA strand for a few minutes at a constant temperature of 360C then add 0.9 cm3 of oxynucleoside triphosphate to amplify the DNA strand that has been extracted.Finally, add 1 cm3 of culture to all the DNA strands from different blood samples that have undergone the above procedures to identify the Burkholderia cepacia bacterium from other similar bacteria that cause cold.ResultThe Burkholderia cepacia bacterium becomes purple when culture is added to a DNA strand that has some Carlsbad solution in it thereby distinguishing it from other types of bacteria.

DiscussionPyrosequencing becomes possible in the DNA of different bacteria that cause cold in children when culture and Carlsbad solution is added to the sample DNA strands because of some bacteria’s ability to assume different colors when these solutions used in this analysis are added to them (Luna et al 2007). Therefore, Burkholderia cepacia stands out distinctively as purple which makes it easy to identify its species when considering the various bacteria that cause cold. DNA sequencing stands out to be the most effective method of identifying the many infectious bacteria that exist.

ReferencesLuna, R. et al. (2007). “DNA pyrosequencing-Based Bacterial Pathogen identification in a Pediatric hospital setting” Journal of Clinical Microbiology 45, 9(2986-2991).Reece, D et al. (2012). Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections. New York: Oxford University Press.Witkowski, J., A. (2005). The inside story: DNA to RNA to Protein. Las Vegas: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.