Created by
Paul A. Gulig, Ph.D.
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
with assistance from
David Brumbaugh
What will you do next with colony #1?
C. Do a PCR.
No, not in this scheme. Although PCR is becoming more widely used diagnostically, you would most likely use it on a primary sample, rather than a colony. The value of PCR is its sensitivity (it works on very few cells) and specificity (by choosing primers specific for a given pathogen, you can detect the pathogen in the midst of the crowd - finding a needle in a haystack. There is only one other test in this lab that enables the "needle in a haystack" diagnosis.