Bacterial Diversity Studies Using the 16S rRna Gene Provide a Powerful Research-Based Curriculum for Molecular Biology Laboratory

S. Boomer, D. Lodge, and B. Dutton (Western Oregon University)

Extensions of Curriculum

Biology 575: Molecular Microbiology, a graduate-level course for training teachers. Combines General Microbiology and Molecular Biology.

Biology 301: Computational Biology, an undergraduate elective that uses project DNA sequences to teach bioinformatics, phylogenetics, and GIS methods.

Education Outreach: (1) RFLP Diversity Assessment Using Project Clones. (2) Basic Computational Biology Using Project Clones.

New Microbiology Labs: (1) Computational Taxonomy Using Project Clones. (2) RFLP Diversity Assessment Using Project Clones.

ANY kind of sample (environmental or medical) could be analyzed using these approaches to teach microbial diversity and molecular biology.