Using student-generated UV-induced Escherichia coli mutants in a directed inquiry undergraduate genetics laboratory.

ABSTRACT: We report a thematic sequence of directed inquiry-based labs taking students from bacterial mutagenesis and phenotypic identification of their own self-created mutant, through identification of mutated genes by biochemical testing, to verification of mutant alleles by complementation, and finally to mutant allele characterization by DNA sequence analysis. The lab utilizes UV mutagenesis with wild-type Escherichia coli and a UV-sensitive isogenic derivative optimized for undergraduate use. The labs take advantage of the simplicity of E. coli in a realistic genetic investigation using safe UV irradiation methods for creation and characterization of novel mutants. Assessment data collected over three offerings of the course suggest that the labs, which combine original investigation in a scie

SUBMITTER: Healy FG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2940297 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature