Bacteria are everywhere. And this is not an exaggeration. From the tropical jungles of Africa, to the cold, dark salt lakes in Antarctica, these miniature creatures conquer all. It will not be any stretch of the imagination to call them "Nature's Little Superheroes". It makes me sick, quite literally.
But are they really that Super? Can these micro-warriors really survive anything? This must truly be the case, as anyone who ever had an infection could attest to this. Apart from total chemical warfare in the form of Jik, Handy Andy and Dettol, nothing else can stop their quest to maintain world domination!
As scientists, we say no. No to the boasting, no to losing the microbe battle, and no to accepting bacterial dominance. We will declare war on a whole Kingdom, the Bacteria. Can the worst of the worst really survive in the luxury their Eukaryotic counterparts call home?
The Genetics/CTHB team challenges you to join them in testing this unique idea. We will go to the harshest regions of Pretoria (LC Dam, Public door handle, and more..) to wrangle up the toughest bacteria. Using a barcoding approach, the enemy will be identified. And then, the fun starts. You will get to subject your bacteria to any form of torture you can think off. Try to live on a leaf, or in my bottled water, or even in my coke. How about taking a chill in our freezers, or a nice warm suntan? Let's see who's tough now...
You will be exposed to microbiological methods such as media preparation and pure culturing. PCR and Sanger sequencing will aid in identifying the bacteria you choose, while an epidemiological approach will allow you to measure the successful survival of your microbial pet. With plenty of creativity and enthusiasm, you might just get to understand the germ hype a little better.
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