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Team:Edinburgh/Results
From 2008.igem.org
Glycogen Assay
In order to determine whether our mutation (G336E) has increased the yield of glycogen in the cells we had to come up with a method of assaying glycogen production. The one we designed simply involves adding Gram's iodine solution dropwise on to colonies grown on nutrient agar. The test works by the iodine solution staining the glycogen resulting in a brown colour: a cell containing more glycogen will stain darker brown than a cell containing less glycogen.
In order to test this assay we grew E. coli on two different media, one which would encourage glycogen production and a second that would not. It has been documented that glycogen production is increased in E. coli cells by growth in a medium rich in a carbon source, so we made up the following plates:
- Nutrient agar
- Nutrient agar + 2% glucose
Staining of colonies on these two plates gave the following results:
