Rationale:

Run a gel electrophoresis using Soil Sample E’s enriched lysate to test for presence of DNA. 

Procedure: 

1. Obtained a flask, and added 40 mL of TBE, and 0.8 Agarose.  
2. Microwaved the flask until the solution was clear.  
3. The flask was let to be cooled before proceeding.  
4. Added 2 uL of Ethidium bromide into each flask.  
5. Poured the solutions into the tray and left to set, and after gel set, removed the combs.  
6. Filled the tray with TBE until covered a layer over the gel.  
7. Pipetted 10 uL of primer into each of the wells. , and 5 uL in the well for the ladder. 
8. Pipetted the ladder in the middle row, and left ends empty.  
9. Used left end for practice.  
10. Attached the apparatus and plugged into the power source.  
11. Imaged soil and obtained results about an hour later.  

Observations/ Results : 

The gel electrophoresis results came back negative, as no phage DNA was traced in Soil Sample E.  

Gel Electrophoresis Before Imaging

Gel electrophoresis Results

Conclusions/Next Steps: 

The gel electrophoresis came out negative, and therefore can conclude that there is no phage in this soil sample. Next time I will either re-enrich a previous soil sample, or will collect new soil, enrich the new soil sample, and find the soil metadata to create a PCR and run a gel electrophoresis.