Lab 6

Question 1

16S rDNA

Answer 1

useful for identification of certain pathogenic bacterial species

the 16S rDNA gene is a large = 1500bp gene that has been highly conserved acroaa all prokaryotes

=> ideal to look for small sequence changes

currently the most favoured method of bacterial ID

Question 2

Virulence Factors associated genes

Answer 2

means of identification

virulence factors are specific molecules produced by microorganisms which act to increase their ability to elicit a disease state in a host

pathogenic strains of bacteria harbour more virulence factors that non-pathogenic ones

unlike with gene sequence like the 16S rDNA gene, we can simply look for the presence or absence of a virulence factor gene