From Dirt to Database: An In Depth Analysis of Mycobacterium Phage GreaseLightnin — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

From Dirt to Database: An In Depth Analysis of Mycobacterium Phage GreaseLightnin

Name: Kevin Dunn
Major: Biology
Hometown: Madison, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: HHMI SEA-Phages

Name: Melanie Gucwa
Major: Biology
Hometown: Carol Stream, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: HHMI SEA-Phages

Name: Makenzie Mullan
Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Lindenhurst, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: HHMI SEA-Phages

Name: John Nykyforuk
Major: Biology
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: HHMI SEA-Phages

Abstract

A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria, with many potential biological and medical applications. The bacteriophage that we were given to annotate was GreaseLightnin ‒ a temperate mycobacterium phage that was found in an environmental sample from under a tree at Carthage College. It was then isolated in the wet lab in 2013 using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc²155 as the host. The DNA of this phage was extracted and sequenced using a form of shotgun sequencing known as Illumina sequencing. Once the sequenced genome of this bacteriophage was obtained we annotated its genome to determine the location and function of the genes that the bacteriophage contains. GreaseLightnin belongs to the P cluster, P1 subcluster and can be classified as Siphoviridae. A number of annotation programs were used, including DNA Master, HHPred, and BLASTP. The characteristics analyzed were starting position, coding potential, ORF length, gaps, alignment with other genes, ribosome binding site strength, and gene function. Our final results will be uploaded to the NCBI database to be used as a foundation for future research.

Poster file