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Research Description

We will be using two different strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to conduct our experiment. We will be using PA01 and LasBapr upon which our PA01 will be labeled our wild type and our LasBapr will be our mutant. We will grow and plate our cultures on Milk-Agar plates after a dilution series on a microtiter plate has been performed and incubate them into order to count cultures. We expect to see that the mutant strains will create a clear halo around our bacteria and conversely the wild type will create a cloudier less transparent halo. Doing such research today is very important because it can help scientists understand how cooperation in nature exists. Understanding cooperative bacteria can help us learn more about certain health issues, for example in biofilms. These cooperative cells expel sticky substances that invade water pipes and can ultimately lead to cholera. The more we understand cooperative bacteria, the more knowledgeable we will be about these issues.

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