EXPERIMENTS

OUR METHODOLOGY AND OTHER PROCEDURES FOLLOWED

Notice

Download the PDF version of our lab procedures, written by directors Vishwaa and Daniel, here:


7/9/2024 Lab Schedule By: Vishwaa Kannan

Day Schedule
Wednesday Transformation Blue White Screening
Thursday Blue White Screening Select colony to grow in media (white colonies)
Friday Mini-prep (19 tubes) Set up digestion for gel (if time) (maybe overnight)
Monday Digest Run Gel Copies for Storage
Tuesday PFAS Exposure
Wednesday-Friday Time to redo parts, fix mistakes, etc.

6-17-2024 Single Transformation by Daniel Jiang


Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells

Protocol:

  1. Thaw bacteria on ice ~ 20-30 mins

  2. Gently mix cells

  3. Aliquot 50 μl of e.coli in microcentrifuge tube *** label carefully

  4. Add 1.5 μl of H20 into a different microcentrifuge tube

  5. Pipette 0.5 μl of DNA (4ng/4ul) into H2O tube dilution

    Mix.

  6. Pipette the 2.0ul diluted DNA into the 50ul ecoli tube

  7. Incubate the e-coli/DNA mixture on ice ~20-30 mins.

  8. Heat shock each e-coli/DNA tube by placing bottom 50% - 66% of the tube in water bath 30 sec @ 42°C

  9. Place e-coli/DNA tubes on ice ~2 min.

  10. Add 250-1,000 μl Antibiotic-ABSENT LB or SOC media to bacteria tubes and grow in shaking incubator (document which media was used)

    60 min @ 37°C 225 rpm

  11. Pipette 10 and 20 μl e-coli/DNA mixture onto a 10 cm LB selective agar plate.

    1. **Blue White Screening + selective agar in one plate
  12. Gently spread bacteria throughout agar plate

  13. Incubate plates @ 37°C O/N

Properly dispose and clean up


6-17-2024 Double Transformation by Vishwaa Kannan

Note

  • 3 instances in parallel for this protocol

  • Concentration of the DNA Plasmids 5 ng/ul

  • Both construct 1 and 2

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells

Protocol:

  1. Thaw bacteria on ice ~ 5 minutes

  2. Aliquot 50 μl of e.coli in microcentrifuge tube *** label carefully

  3. Add 1 μl of H20 into a different microcentrifuge tube

  4. Pipette 0.5 μl DNA 1 (4mg/4ul) into H2O tube dilution + 0.5 ul DNA 2 (4mg/4ul)

  5. Pipette the 2.0ul diluted DNA into the 50ul ecoli tube

  6. Incubate the e-coli/DNA mixture on ice ~20-30 mins.

  7. Heat shock each e-coli/DNA tube by placing bottom 50% - 66% of the tube in water bath

    30 sec @ 42°C

  8. Place e-coli/DNA tubes on ice ~2 min.

  9. Add 250-1,000 μl Antibiotic-ABSENT LB or SOC media to bacteria tubes and grow in shaking incubator

    60 min @ 37°C 225 rpm*** Document what media you end up using

  10. Pipette 10 and 20 μl e-coli/DNA mixture onto a 10 cm LB SELECTIVE agar plate.

    ****Blue White Screening + selective agar in one plate

  11. Gently spread bacteria throughout agar plate

  12. Incubate plates @ 37°C O/N

Properly dispose and clean up


7-9-2024 Blue White Screening Protocol by Vishwaa Kannan

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells / DNA +

Reagents:

  1. X-Gal

  2. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)

  3. dH2O

  4. Isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside, IPTG (100 mM)

Protocol:

  1. Prepare 20 mg/ml of X-Gal in DMSO

    • 5 ml of DMSO

    • 100 μg of X-Gal

    • **Store at -20° C, wrap in foil

  2. 1 ml aliquots should be made of X-Gal in DMSO (completed up to here)

    
                  **Start plate preparation while bacteria is in the shaker**
                
  3. Add ~6.5 µl of 20 mg/ml X-Gal solution per 1 ml of media on the surface of the selective agar plate

    • 100 µl per plate

  4. Add ~2.5 µl of 20 mg/ml X-Gal solution per 1 ml of media on the surface of the selective agar plate

    • 40 µl per plate

  5. Smear with spreader on top of the selective agar plate

  6. Air dry plate in fume hood

Properly dispose and clean up


7-9-2024 Selection protocol by Vishwaa Kannan

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells / DNA +

Materials:

  1. LB Broth

  2. Antibiotics (Kanamycin, Ampicillin, Both)

  3. 15 ml Tubes

  4. Toothpicks

Protocol:

  1. Prepare 5 ml in each 15 ml tube

    1. Make 5 tubes per transformation

    2. Make 2 tubes per negative control

  2. Pick a white colony for each tube using toothpicks and place it into a 15 ml tube

  3. Keep at 37° C @225 RPM Overnight

Properly dispose and clean up


7-9-2024 Mini-prep Protocol by Vishwaa Kannan

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells / DNA +

Materials:

  1. GeneJET mini-prep kit K0502

Protocol:

  1. Add the provided RNase A solution to the Resuspension Solution and mix, can be used for 6 months when stored at 4°C

  2. Add ethanol (96-100%) to the Wash Solution prior to first use, total volume of 55 ml

    1. 20 ml wash solution

    2. 35 ml Ethanol

  3. If salt precipitation occurs on Lysis Solution and the Neutralization Solution

    1. Redissolve any precipitate by warming the solution at 37°C

    2. Cool to 25°C before use **Don’t shake too vigorously

  4. Centrifuge selected colony (which was in media overnight) at 8000 rpm (6800 × g) in a microcentrifuge for 2 min at room temperature

    1. Decant the supernatant and remove all remaining medium

  5. Resuspend the pelleted cells in 250 µL of the Resuspension Solution

    1. Transfer the cell suspension to a microcentrifuge tube

    2. Bacteria should be resuspended completely by vortexing or pipetting up and down until no cell clumps remain

  6. Add 250 µL of the Lysis Solution

    1. Mix thoroughly by inverting the tube 4-6 times until the solution becomes viscous and slightly clear

  7. Add 350 µL of the Neutralization Solution

    1. Mix immediately and thoroughly by inverting the tube 4-6 times

    2. Note: It is important to mix thoroughly and gently after the addition of the Neutralization Solution to avoid localized precipitation of bacterial cell debris. The neutralized bacterial lysate should become cloudy.

  8. Centrifuge for 5 min @>12000 × g, 10 000-14 000 rpm (table-top centrifuge should suffice) to pellet cell debris and chromosomal DNA

  9. Transfer the supernatant to the supplied GeneJET spin column by decanting or pipetting Avoid disturbing or transferring the white precipitate

  10. Centrifuge for 1 min @>12000 × g, 10 000-14 000 rpm (table-top centrifuge should suffice)

    1. discard the flow-through

    2. place the column back into the same collection tube

  11. Add 500 µL of the Wash Solution to the GeneJET spin column

    1. Centrifuge for 30-60 seconds @>12000 × g, 10 000-14 000 rpm (table-top centrifuge should suffice)

    2. discard the flow-through

    3. Place the column back into the same collection tube

    4. **REPEAT (STEP 11)

  12. Discard the flow-through

    1. centrifuge for an additional 1 min @>12000 × g, 10 000-14 000 rpm (table-top centrifuge should suffice) to remove residual Wash Solution

    2. **ESSENTIAL to remove ethanol

  13. Transfer the GeneJET spin column into a fresh 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube

    1. Add 50 µL of the Elution Buffer to the center of GeneJET spin column membrane to elute the plasmid DNA

      1. **Take care not to contact the membrane with the pipette tip

    2. Incubate for 2 min at room temperature and centrifuge for 2 min @>12000 × g, 10 000-14 000 rpm

    3. Note. An additional elution step (optional) with Elution Buffer or water will recover residual DNA from the membrane and increase the overall yield by 10-20%. For elution of plasmids or cosmids >20 kb, prewarm Elution Buffer to 70°C before applying to silica membrane.

  14. Discard the column and store the purified plasmid DNA at -20°C

Properly dispose and clean up


7-9-2024 Storage Protocol by Vishwaa Kannan

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells / DNA +

Protocol:

  1. Add 400 μL of the overnight culture to 400 μL of 50% glycerol in a 1 mL screw-top tube/cryovial and gently mix

    1. Make the 50% glycerol solution by diluting 100% glycerol in dH20

    2. Snap top tubes are not recommended as they can open unexpectedly at -80°C

  2. Freeze the glycerol stock tube at -80°C

    1. Subsequent freeze and thaw cycles reduce shelf life


6-17-2024 PFAS Exposure by Daniel Jiang

IMPORTANT: Visit this google sheet for complete exposure protocol and PFAS plate set up:

Google Sheets

Bacteria Strain:

  1. E. Coli DH5α™ Competent Cells / DNA +

Reagents:

  1. 10uM PFOA Stock Solution

Protocol:

  1. Dilute PFOA Stock Solutions Amount
    0 uM PFAS (Only liquid broth) 5 ml
    20 ng/ml 5 ml
    40 ng/ml 5 ml
    60 ng/ml 5 ml
  2. Collect all E.Coli/DNA+ cells in liquid broth 5ml

  3. Centrifuge e.coli/DNA+ vials 5 min @ 1000rpm

  4. Suction out all liquid broth

    Isolating bacteria cells only

  5. Pipette PFOA solutions into E.coli/DNA+ vial

  6. Mix thoroughly by pipetting up and down

    *** Try not to spill

  7. Incubate vial 30min @ 37°C

Properly dispose and clean up