Sample information

This pill bug was found in the mulch near Ms. Davis’ classroom. It was collected in the morning, at ~9:00 am. The weather was partly cloudy and about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The habitat generally consists of mulch, soil, and variations of tall grass. 

Methods

Description:

• a 1% gel is placed into a gel electrophoresis chamber with the wells laying closest to the negative electrode
• TAE buffer is poured into the chamber, filling until the gel is covered by ~2 mm of TAE
• 10 μL of each sample is loaded into each well
• lid of chamber is attached, red plug to red and black plug to black
• attach red and black wires to the power source to their respective colors
• turn on power source and set amperage to 70 mA and voltage to 165 V
• set time to 60 min
• start run by pressing start button
• lower amperage and voltage as necessary to prevent gel from being ruined

Results

Description: Since there’s a 60% chance that a pill bug could be infected with Wolbachia, given the small sample size (one specimen per species) of the experiment, there is a possibility that the pill bug tested was actually infected with Wolbachia. However, since the positive control (with Wolbachia and arthropod DNA) showed up on the gel, it was reasonable to conclude that the pill bug’s gel results were valid, and therefore that the pill bug was Wolbachia negative.