Bollivar, Faculty Advisor, David W.

Wasik, Brian R.

English

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 2004, 15th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 17th, 1:15 PM - 2:30 PMBCHP and its Role in BacteriochlorophyllSynthesis in Rhodobacter CapsulatusBrian R. WasikIllinois Wesleyan UniversityDavid W. Bollivar, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Wasik, Brian R. and Bollivar, Faculty Advisor, David W., "BCHP and its Role in Bacteriochlorophyll Synthesis inRhodobacter Capsulatus" (2004). John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. 26.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/2004/posters2/26THE JOHN WESLEY POWELL STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE - APRIL 2004 Poster Presentation PSO BCHP AND ITS ROLE IN BACTERIOCHLOROPHYLL SYNTHESIS IN RHODOBACTER CAPSULATUS Brian R. Wasik and David W. Bollivar* Department of Biology,Illinois Wesleyan University Rhodobacter capsulatus is a photosynthetic bacterium. Like most photosynthetic organisms, it can harvest light energy from the sun and convert into chemical energy. This bacterium utilizes bacteriochlorophyll in order to harness the light energy from its environment. Bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis involves a complicated series of biochemical reaction that include formation of a tetrapyrrole (a ring structure), the incorporation of a magnesium ion and modifications of the ring. The goal of the experiments described in this poster is to identify the mechanism of an enzyme involved in making bactreriochlorophyll. This can be accomplished by generating an expression clone of the gene in E. coli cells using recombinant DNA methods. The expression clone can be used to make large amounts of the protein encoded by the gene for use in further experiments. The work presented in this poster reflects the progress to date. The BchP gene has been isolated and amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction. Successful amplification of BchP was accomplished and confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The PCR product was isolated and purified. The PCR product was ligated into a PCR-Script Amp cloning plasmid and was transformed into a competent strain of E. coli. The E. coli strain was grown and identifiable colonies with insert were isolated and cultured for growth. To date, attempts to identify correct insert of PCR product by agarose gel elctrophoresis have produced no conclusive results. Immediate future experiments will focus on accomplishing this task. 

BCHP and its Role in Bacteriochlorophyll Synthesis in \u3cEM\u3eRhodobacter Capsulatus\u3c/em\u3e

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BCHP and its Role in Bacteriochlorophyll Synthesis in \u3cEM\u3eRhodobacter Capsulatus\u3c/em\u3e

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