Date of Project
4-28-2017
Document Type
Honors Thesis
School Name
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Major Advisor
Joanne Dobbins
Second Advisor
David Robinson
Third Advisor
Martha Carlson Mazur
Abstract
Isolation techniques developed by the HHMI and the SEA-PHAGES program were used to obtain a bacteriophage from a mixture of loamy clay soil. The sample was retrieved from a forest edge in central Kentucky. The isolate produced large lytic plaques on a lawn of the bacterium Mycobacterium smegmatis. The bacteriophage was purified, amplified, and analyzed using restriction digest analysis with visualization by gel electrophoresis. Restriction digest analysis suggests the virus belongs to a group known as “A”. Mycobacteriophages are placed into distinct groups based on DNA sequences comparison. The next step in the procedure will be to document with an electron micrographic image. The virus will then be sequenced, so the genome can be annotated. The virus will be able to be further characterized in its cluster during the annotation process. Future studies include testing rates of infectivity of at various temperatures. It is my goal that these studies will allow the determination of a novel bacteriophage.
Recommended Citation
Wegenast, Katie, "Isolation of a Mycobacterium Virus with the Infectivity Rate Tested at Various Temperatures" (2017). Undergraduate Theses. 15.
https://scholarworks.bellarmine.edu/ugrad_theses/15