5.1: Swimming bacteria
5.1: Swimming bacteria kdorfman Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:05Observing Swimming Bacteria
E. coli for 5.1
E. coli for 5.1 kdorfman Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:08Strain RP437 - wildtype for chemotaxis
At least 2 days before lab:
Streak all chemotaxis strains on LB agar.
Night before lab
Pick a single colony from the RP437 plate, inoculate into ~5 mL minimal medium + HMLTT; shake at 30C
Morning of lab
Inoculate ~200µL into ~45 mL minimal medium + HMLTT
At class time, OD should be ~0.02
Don't let them reach stationary phase!
Making motility movies
Making motility movies kdorfman Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:42To make movies with microscopes in 360:
Frames: 50
Interval: 0.1 sec
exposure: 16.38 msec
pixel type: 8 bit
binning: 4
use x4 list (mark 1) stage position list
shutter open
Materials for 5.1
Materials for 5.1 kdorfman Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:40Slides
coverslips
perfusion chambers (Coverwell 622503 from Grace Bio-Labs) - clean with distilled water
Microscopes
lens paper
NOTE: The optics are bad with the plastic coverslip on the perfusion chamber. If you peel the silicone gasket off the plastic coverslip and replace it with a glass coverslip, you can see much better! (See if there are thinner gaskets.)
Double-sided tape! Put 4 strips of double sided tape on a slide, lower a coverslip over them, and voila! chambers for bacteria! Make sure the tape strips are longer than the coverslip is wide, so you can introduce cells or media without mixing them.
Try double-sided tape with a liner so it is easier to cut and handle, e.g. MMM4010 at WBMason. Scotch Double-Sided Mounting Tape, Industrial Strength, 1" x 60", Clear/Red Liner
For phase to work, the condenser must be at maximum height!
Phase rings must be aligned! Telescope in microscope bulb drawer can be used to align rings. Loosen the chrome screws, adjust the ring with the little black wheels, then tighten. Repeat for each ring/objective combination.
Darkfield may work, too, but condenser must be at maximum height as well.
Reagents for 5.1
Reagents for 5.1 kdorfman Fri, 11/04/2011 - 14:49Minimal Medium + HMLTT
Check stocks in refrigerator before making any solutions!
Plus, for extra-mile experiments:
0.01 M glutamic acid
pH 5.06 (adjust with acetic acid)
0.01 M galactose
1mM CoCl2