Rationale: Now that I have replicated phage DNA, if my sample had phage, running a gel electrophoresis will let me see a band showing whether or not there is phage present.

Procedure:

1. Start by adding 35mL of 1X TBE buffer with 0.7g of agarose powder.
2. Heat until it starts boiling and swirl to mix. Repeat a couple times to fully mix agarose.
3. Let mixture cool to about 55ºC then add 1.7μL of Ethidium Bromide and mix.
4. Pour gel into tray with dams on each side and well comb.
5. Repeat to make control gel.
6. Once Solidified adding a bit of TBE buffer to the top to make it easier to remove comb without tearing gel.
7. Added gel to electrophoresis apparatus and flooded with TBE buffer to fill line.
8. Ran gel at 100V for 40 minutes.
9. Imaged using Bio-rad imaging machine.

Observations: On the left is the gel with our samples on it. On the right is the controls. To the left of the ladder are negative controls and to the right are positive controls. As shown none of the samples had phage present.

Interpretations and Next Steps: Yet another soil sample shown to have nothing. This technique also seems to not be working out as it is possible that the sample contained phages of the clusters in primer mix 3 and the band was too faint to see. Next time I’ll bring multiple samples and attempt a multi-well enrichment.