Unknown Creosote Bush Bacteria

This week, I performed a third and final DNA extraction (Group C). These values varied from the last two (Group A and Group B) because some values were high and others were low. Considering that I have enough DNA from Group A to perform PCR, I decided to call it quits after I received the data from Group C. Attached below is the nucleic data from Group A, B and C. Aside from that, because I cannot perform PCR without master primers (which will arrive next week and is my next step), I retrieved a leaf from a creosote bush and carried out tests to try to determine what kind of bacteria was present. I liked running these tests because not only are they simple but they reminded me of my first semester at S-STEM. Sometime this week, I will hopefully be able to determine what kind of bacteria I’m dealing with!

Figure 1. The first DNA extraction group (Group A) from unknown bacteria, which had relatively high nucleic acid (DNA) compared to the others.

Figure 2. The second DNA extraction group (Group B) from unknown bacteria, which had relatively high nucleic acid (DNA) compared to the others.

Figure 3. The third DNA extraction group (Group C) from unknown bacteria, which had relatively high and low nucleic acid (DNA) compared to the others.

Figure 4. The graph of the third DNA extraction results (group C) displaying how much was absorbed during a certain wavelength. The colorful numbers to the left side correspond to the bacteria it is. "EC" stands for E.Coli, which is being used as the positive control. Note that the absorbance goes up to about 32.

Figure 5. Unknown bacteria from a creosote bush under the microscope after gram staining. This bacteria is gram + (because it is purple) and cocci shaped (the cell shape is circular).