Team:EPF-Lausanne/Notebook/10 July 2012

From 2012.igem.org



Contents

Morning: agar plates

We have prepared 5 agar plates with 50 µg/ml of Spectinomycin and 5 with 100 µg/ml. One of each has been kept open, to dry for today's transformation.

We have used two bottles with 150 ml of medium each. That means, per bottle:

  • 3 g of LB
  • 1.5 g of agar
  • 150 ml of di water

Our spectinomycin has a concentration of 100 mg/ml. After autoclaving, we have added 75 µl of spectinomycin to one bottle (50 µg/ml) and 150 µl to the other (100 µg/ml).


Protocol: Agar LB plate preparation


Ingredients:

  • LB: 20 g/L
  • Agar: 10 g/L (Note: not agarose)
  • di water

Procedure:

  1. Autoclave all the ingredients together in a glass bottle, loose cap and covered with alu foil, with 20 min liquid program (106). This takes about 1h in the autoclave.
  2. Prepare the plates by labeling and ethanol cleaning a big enough surface.
  3. Close the bottle and allow to cool down to 50-55ºC (colder will start to solidify, warmer might degrade the antibiotic).
  4. Add the antibiotic to the bottle: 100 µg/ml for ampicillin, 50-100 µg/ml for spectinomycin.
  5. Add 25-30 ml of the medium with antibiotic to each plate. Leave half open for about 2 h for cooling.
  6. Close hte plates. Wrap the in alu foil (antibiotics are sensitive to light) and store the at 4ºC.


Comments

For some reason one of the bottles showed a slightly darker color (the 100 µg/ml one).


Afternoon: transformation

Using the DNA, sample #1, prepared the 29 June. Chosen because it looked the nicest in the gel the 4th July. 2 tubes prepared, adding 2 µl of DNA and 50 µl of cell culture.




Protocol: E.Coli Transformation


  1. Thaw the competent E.coli (DH5alpha) cells on ice (not in hands!)
  2. As soon as it is thawed, add 50µl of the cells to the DNA (~50-100 ng of pure plasmid, or some 2 µl usually)
  3. Let it rest on ice for 20-30 min. Meanwhile, put agar plate (with correct antibiotic) at 37°C for prewarming.
  4. Put the tube with DNA+E.coli at 42°C for 45 sec - 1 min (heat shock)
  5. Add 400 µl of LB broth and place at 37°C for 20-30 min (shaking)
  6. Spread the cells on the prewarmed plate (and let it dry)
  7. Incubate the plate upside-down at 37°C for ~14-15 hours (leaving it more than 16h decreases the plasmid quality)