How to Perturb Yeast: A Series of Experiments Investigating Yeast Growth and Protein Composition

 

Pamela L. Connerly

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2007, Volume 28

Abstract

As part of an upper level Cell Biology course, a three-week series of laboratory exercises was conducted investigating the growth and protein composition of yeast. Five teams of two to four students each first conducted a 10-hour growth curve on a culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain S288C, then prepared crude protein extracts and assayed them using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Next, students were asked to design an experimental condition they believed would change the growth and/or protein composition of the yeast. Conditions tested included heat shock, nutrient limitation, temperature change, and UV treatment. The growth and protein composition assays were repeated after the student-determined treatment. This activity allowed each team of students to take control of the experimental aspect of the project, although each group utilized the same laboratory procedures.

Keywords:  student-designed laboratory, yeast, growth, SDS-PAGE, protein composition

Purdue University (2006)