An Ideal Microbe for High School Teaching

P. Arora DasSarma and S. DasSarma, Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore MD 21202, UNITED STATES

In the 21^st century, it is increasingly important for high school students to grasp basic microbiological and genetic concepts. Traditionally, such concepts have been most effectively conveyed through hands-on laboratory experiences. However, laboratory experience is difficult to achieve, because of the potential to expose students to harmful microbes and chemicals, challenges in maintaining sterility of cultures, cost of scientific materials, and length of preparation and laboratory time required. Use of conventional E. coli bacteria has led to worries about safety, fueled by outbreaks of illness caused by contamination of food and water. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve and expand the microbiology component of high school curriculum using novel, safe, and effective approaches. Our laboratory has been studying the microbe, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 extensively for the last 20 years. It is a nonpathogenic extreme halophile that grows well at room temperature and is found on virtually every continent, in highly saline environments. This organism has well developed microbiological and molecular genetic techniques as well as a completely sequenced genome. We have developed a comprehensive set of laboratory exercises with Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 for use in teaching, including concepts such as exponential growth, colony formation, mutation, antibiotic resistance, motility, flotation, DNA function, transformation, complementation, biotechnology, genomics, and bioinformatics. Our approach has already been shown to be effective in various educational settings, including colleges, high schools and teacher training workshops.