Assignment – Yeast Cloning and Sequencing Project Lab Report This report is the full lab report you are required to write for this course and is worth 8% of your final course grade. The book “A Short Guide to Writing about Biology” by Jan A. Pechenik is an excellent reference for scientific writing. If you do not have this book, you may access a copy in the lab or library. The current edition of Pechenik is on reserve in the library and older editions can be found in the stacks. We have provided a pdf copy of Chapter 9 (pp. 149-220) for your reference. Basic Guidelines for Lab Report • Your full lab report will include a Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, and Appendix sections. • Your report will be a maximum of 10 pages of typed text (excluding the title page, embedded figures and tables, references, and appendix). • Your report will be double spaced, 12-point font, printed one-sided on 8.5 x 11 printer paper and stapled at the top left corner. • Your report MUST be written individually and contain no Academic Integrity Violations. • Reports will be written using APA 7 th edition. Information on the new APA style can be found here: https://libguides.kpu.ca/c.php?g=713337&p=5083418. • Cite other people’s ideas (e.g. other researchers, textbook authors, information in peer reviewed articles, etc.) using APA style in-text citations, and include a minimum of two credible references, other than the lab manual and the required course text. Blogs, Wikipedia pages, or personal websites are not credible sources. Peer reviewed science articles, journal articles, and textbooks are credible sources. Information on university websites, official government websites (e.g. www.genome.gov) or large science organizations (e.g. www.nature.com/scitable/) may be acceptable (review the about page and ask a librarian when in doubt). When considering whether or not a website is acceptable, ask yourself if it is peer reviewed by experts in the field (e.g. Wikipedia is peer-reviewed, but NOT necessarily by experts in the field, as anyone can submit edits, which is why it is not an acceptable source). • Along with content you will be marked on correct spelling, grammar and formatting, clear and concise writing, following scientific conventions, etc. • Include any raw data, rough calculations, and anything else essential to the report in the appendix. Organization of ideas Each section of your lab report serves a particular purpose. While writing your lab report it is important that you put information in the correct section of your report, and that the information within a section is well organized and flows in a logical order. The information provided in the following pages is intended to be used as a guide to help you place information in the correct section of your report. Your role, while writing and editing these sections, is to organize and communicate the information in a way that will make sense to your reader. Yeast Cloning and Sequencing Project Title page Provide a title page in APA format. Instructions on how to make a title page can be found here: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammarguidelines/paper-format/title-page. Abstract This section should include: A brief introduction to the lab, brief summaries of methods, major results and interpretation of findings. The summary of the results should include: (a) if you successfully obtained a sequence, (b) the name of gene identified (if applicable) or indicate that you found a non-coding sequence, (c) E-value of sequence alignment, (d) description of gene function (if applicable), and (e) how your findings relate to those of other researchers. This single paragraph includes only the most relevant information and should be 1/3 to 1/2 of a page in length. Introduction This section should include: A discussion of yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a model organism including a description, reasons for its use in this project, and reasons for its use in genetic studies. A discussion of the role of bacteria and specifically why JM101 E. coli cells were used. A discussion of the role of the pUC19 plasmid and why it was used. A description of the blue-white screening system. A clear and concise statement of the purpose of the project. In-text citations (use 7th edition APA citation style). The content in this section should be clear, concise, well organized and flow in a logical order (i.e. the information does not need to be given in the order listed above). Materials & Methods This section should include: A reference to the procedure in the lab manual. o Start this section with a general statement such as “The procedures in this experiment were performed as described in the Yeast Cloning and Sequencing Project Parts 1, 2, 3 & 6 (followed by an in-text citation for the lab manual).” o We are giving you permission to use this language, so it will not be considered plagiarism if you use it, however the rest of this section needs to be in your own words. A brief description of each step in the project. This section of your report will be 6-8 paragraphs in length (1 ½ to 2 ½ pages), depending on how you divide up the experiment and organize the information. A description of any deviations from the procedure and their rationale (deviations should be included in the summary of the procedure and not added to the end of the report). A description and discussion of the purpose of all controls used throughout the project. Revised Jan. 26th, 2022 The content in this section should be clear, concise, well organized and flow in a logical order. It should be written in the past tense as the experiment has already been performed. It should include the appropriate level of detail (i.e. provide an overview of the most important parts of the experiment, but not list every single procedural step). Results This section should include: • A written description of (a) the results of the controls, (b) experimental results (e.g. results of the platings, whether or not you obtained a gene sequence, transformation efficiency value, etc.), (c) summary of the results of the BLAST analysis in one to two sentences (e.g. name of gene(s) and/or presence of a non-coding region; E-value, brief summary of gene function, etc.). • Data should be presented as tables and figures and embedded in the written results section where appropriate. Raw data goes in the Appendix. Include the following tables and figures: o A table of transformation results including the controls. o The sequence of the yeast DNA fragment cloned (presented as a figure). • All figures and tables should be appropriately numbered and have detailed captions. Refer to all tables and figures in the written text. E.g. (see Figure 1). Do not interpret the results in this section. Interpretation of findings go in the Discussion. Discussion This section should include: • A discussion of what you cloned (either part of a gene(s) and/or a non-coding sequence) including the likelihood of each result (i.e. how likely are you to clone a gene vs. a noncoding region?). • A discussion of the confidence in sequence identification (E-value) including an explanation of what an E-value is and what your specific E-value means. • If the sequence was part of a gene, discuss the gene’s function(s). • If the sequence was non-coding, indicate if it was intronic or intergenic sequence. • A discussion of how your results compare to that of other researcher (if possible). In other words, describe what else in known about this gene. • Suggestions for future experiments related to the findings of this experiment (hint: you can base your future experiments on your research regarding gene function). • Discuss specific problems you had with the procedure and how these errors could have influenced your results. • A concluding statement. • In-text citations where appropriate (APA citation style). Appendix This section, which will be located at the back of your lab report, should include: • a copy (printed screen-shot) of your E-value page (from the BLAST search), • a copy (printed screen-shot) of the Genome Browser summary page, • transformation efficiency calculations (can be typed or handwritten). Yeast Cloning and Sequencing Project Revised Sept. 3rd, 2021 For more information on how to write each section of a lab report refer to the Appendix of the lab manual and Pechenik. Example of APA Citation Style. In-text citation: Below is a fictitious example of a paraphrased sentence from the Introduction section of a student’s lab report. It gives credit to the original source (this is the first time the source is being cited). The pUC19 plasmid is an ideal plasmid for a transformation experiment because it contains the lacZ gene which can be used for blue-white screening of recombinant molecules (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2020). Note if you reference this source again, subsequent references can be abbreviated to (NCBI, 2020). If you are citing multiple sources with the same author and date, then include a lowercase letter after the year in the intext citation and corresponding reference (i.e. in-text citation would be (NCBI, 2020a) or (NCBI, 2020b)).
