Cra Gene Lab Report

The purpose of this lab report is to discuss experiments performed in order to study the ctrA gene. It was hypothesized that ctrA will be present in the four bacterial species studied, which are Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1, Rhodobacter sphaeroides 17029, Escherichia coli DH5훂, and Rhodopseudomonas palustris BisB5. It was also hypothesized that ctrA is more conserved in closely related species and less conserved in not closely related species. The last hypothesis for this study is that the promoter regions of ctrA is more conserved in closely related species and less conserved in not closely related species. All sequenced genomes of alpha proteobacteria contain ctrA genes. CtrA regulates numerous events in the cell cycle. The metabolism and division of the cell wall, stalk synthesis, polar …show more content…
Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 is a photosynthetic bacteria that is commonly used to study the photosynthetic pathways, and how molecules such as carbon and nitrogen are fixed. Rhodobacter sphaeroides 17029 will also be studied. It’s similar to R. sphaeroides 2.4.1, except that there is some differences at a subcellular level in the strain of the species. This strain of R. sphaeroides is mostly used for photosynthetic and renewable energy studies. Both of these species are used for studying metabolic pathways. Escherichia coli DH5훂 is the third species being studied. Since E. coli bacteria are considered model organisms, they make perfect study subjects. This particular strain of E. coli is not considered a pathogen. It was made especially for laboratory study. It’s main use has been mostly for cloning. Rhodopseudomonas palustris BisB5 is the final bacteria that was studied. This bacteria is also a photosynthetic bacterium. R. palustris is an extremely flexible microbe. It can survive in a variety of environments. Due to its flexibility, the metabolic pathways are a prime research