10/7/2014
Objective: Verify Sea Pen luciferase sequence was sucessfuly replicated using primerse based on  Renilla Reniformes luciferase sequence acquired on Genebank.

PCR gel run today
Sea pen 1 and 2
1-1 lane 2 (note: Made sea pen luminescence before taking samples on both 1-1 (base cut) and 1-2 (top cut) )
1-2 lane 3 (note: Made sea pen luminescence before taking samples on both 1-1 1-2)
2-1 lane 4
2-2 lane 5
- lane 6
- lane 7
Bioline hyper ladder 1








Joined Dr. Roberts class lab and performed a conventional pcr (2x Apex Red)
6 tube 1-1,1-2,2-1,2-2,and 2 negative control tubes
master mix
2x apex red 12.5ul*6 =75ul
f primer 0.5ul*6 3ul

r primer 0.5ul*6 3ul
h20 6.5ul*6 39ul
=20ul per tube
template 5ul*6 30ul

95c-10 min
40 cycles of
95c 15s
50c 15s
72c 1min

Results: Replication was successful removed the brightest bands in lane 3 and 4 from the gel, and purified to prepare for sequencing. Samples were sent to "" (will add later)
 Found out that the problem with the reverse transcription quantities was a pipetting error on the 10ul pipet i was using to much because of a mix up on the decimal place of the pipette

Introduced a spacer for the sea pens to keep them from touching each other testing it on the 5 gallon bucket . It splits the bucket in half reducing the area they are able to move around in without blocking flow or height the pen can extend Will see if it improves individual health of the sea pens.

With the automatic feeder I have noticed that the Pens have become much more consistent in activity so I believe I am set it up so that all of them can be sustained for a long period of time though more time will be needed to tell if this is true. It may be beneficial to create a paper just on my setup which could help others working with sea pens or related species.

10/2

Objerctive: Convert RNA to cDNA using

Methods:

Reverse Transcription (Promega M-MLV: Cat#M1701; ) [Cost per sample ~$1.50]

A single reaction volume = 25uL. The volume of RNA, primer(s) and M-MLV RT used are variable and will be specific to your current experiment. The directions below apply to a reaction using 1ug of total RNA. You may need to make changes to accommodate your own conditions.

1. Use as much RNA as possible (up to 1ug); max volume of RNA = 17.75uL. Generally, identify the RNA sample with the lowest concentration and multiply by 17.75uL. Use this quantity (ug) of RNA for each and every sample.
2. Transfer calculated volume(s) of RNA to 0.5mL snap cap tubes or PCR plate. Adjust volumes of individual samples to 17.75uL with H2O.
3. Add appropriate amount of primer to sample. Use 0.25ug primer per 1ug of RNA in sample (= 0.5uL of Promega oligo dT Cat#C1101 in this example). Total volume (RNA + primers) should equal 18.25uL.
4. Heat samples at 70C for 5 min in thermocycler.
5. Place samples on ice IMMEDIATELY.
6. Make Master Mix:

PER RXN
5 uL 5x Buffer (M-MLV RT Buffer)
1.25 uL 10mM dNTPs (Promega Cat#U1511)
0.5 uL M-MLV RT per ug of RNA

7. Mix well.
8. Add 6.75uL of master mix to each reaction.
9. Mix well, but do not vortex.
10.Spot spin.
11.Incubate @ 42C for 1hr in thermalcycler for oligo dT primers OR @ 37C for random primers.
12.Heat inactivate @ 95C for 3 min.
13.Spot spin.
14.Store @ -20C.

3/17/2011 SJW

Starting RNA 1ug calculations
1-1 .99ul
1-2 2.31ul
2-1 1.13 ul
2-2 1.50 ul

Results:  Procedure was going well until we reached the Master Mix solution. noticed that their was to much master mix left over so it is likely somewhere in the creation of the MM or pipetting the MM into the solution that an error was made. We still ran the entire protocol to see if anything was successful. Planning on running the PCR next week to verify that the primers that were ordered are valid.

Checked on the Sea pens today the changes to the peristaltic pump appeared to be successful everything was running correctly and the levels in the feeding bucket were the same as when I left yesterday. I am still considering removing the reverse flow on the pump into the bucket so the quantities of artemia being delivered are more consistent but will watch the sea pens to see if this makes a difference. I noticed that in each of the buckets with two sea pens that 1 sea pen is very inflated and looks healthy and the other does not so it is possible that they do not do well when in close quarters with each other possible because they are attacking each other when touching. I would like to take some tissue samples to verify that they in fact do have nematocysts though the I will have to look into if it would be visible just by looking through the microscope may need to find a way to fire them off which we had done in lab I will talk with Claire to see.

10/1

Peristaltic pump began leaking and flooding aquarium room today after some investigation I found the hose being used for the pump was breaking down. I replaced the hose but the next day it wound up in the rotar and destroyed the hose. After talking with Jon about possible solutions I made changes to the pump by adding more rotars to help hold everything in place and added wing nuts to secure everything. Regular rotation of the tubing will also help to reduce breakdown of the tubing (note: ask greg about ordering some peristaltic tubing to reduce issues.

Redesigned the feeding schedule to match tide fluctuations. Currently setup to feed for 3 hours at 6am which mirrors the sea pens normal feeding regiment better than 6 times a day for an hour. it is likely the pens were not getting enough access to the artemia.

I would like to look into the feeding habits of the sea pen and sea if I can get data to support the sea pens using luminescnece to attract artemia.