Background: The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is a bacterium that has gained the nickname “Conan the Bacterium” because it can survive some of the most extreme conditions on Earth that would normally kill any living organism. It can withstand 1000 times the amount of radiation and UV exposure that it would take to kill a human. This ability, along with being able to withstand extreme cold, acidic environments, dehydration and other lethal chemical toxins, has led to a great interest in this bacterium. The fully sequenced genome has been completed and is available online. You will type a 750 word report discussing this bacterium. Follow the directions and guidelines below.
Basic Report Guidelines
- MLA or APA formatting is acceptable, pick one and stick with it.
- You’re required to use 3 credible references for this report. Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable reference.
- References MUST be cited both in the body of the report and the works cited page using proper MLA/APA citation style.
- Report shall be typed using 12-point font & double spaced.
- If you have any concerns about how to write the report, please ask me or utilize the writing center (the writing center has fantastic tutors).
· Points with be deducted for improper grammar and syntax errors.
- If you’re unsure of any of the guidelines, contact me first.
· Page numbers must be added to the main body of the report.
· Include your word count on the Title page.
· Report should be turned in online through Canvas before the deadline.
· You MUST do your OWN work. Do NOT plagiarize material for this report. If you are found to have plagiarized, you will be fully punished by the HCC policy described in their handbook.
SafeAssignment
This course utilizes SafeAssignment. SafeAssignment is an anti-plagiarism program integrated into Blackboard. You must submit a hard-copy AND upload your reports through SafeAssignment, which will then compare your paper to a wide range of sources, including Internet and all other papers submitted though HCC. A detailed report will be provided to your Instructor showing any sources that have high degrees of similarity (i.e. have been plagiarized). Your assignment WILL NOT BE GRADED unless it has been uploaded onto SafeAssignment by the beginning of the class period. Failure to upload your assignment onto SafeAssignment will result in a 0 for the assignment.
Report Instructions
Title Page (5 pts)
- Develop a title for the report
- Name, date, course # and word count
Introduction (50 pts)
You will use the questions below to write your paper and MUST include these points in the report. It does not necessarily have to go in the order listed below but must be in a logical flow for the report. Note that this section must include citations from all sources used.
- Discuss how D. radiodurans was discovered.
- Briefly discuss the type of bacterium D. radiodurans is (i.e. gram stain, genus, morphology, etc).
- What makes D. radiodurans so special?
- How is D. radiodurans able to do the things it does?
- Discuss how researchers are trying to utilize D. radiodurans’s abilities for human applications
- D. radiodurans was first named, Micrococcus radiodurans. Keep this in mind while researching. Also, can you find why they changed the name? If so, include that in your report.
Discussion (30 pts)
In this section you are to discuss your analysis and opinion on the subject. You may write in 1st person in this section. It should include at least 1-2 paragraphs on your thoughts and opinion.
References (15 pts)
References should be on their own, individual page separate from the rest of the report. You will need to use at least 5 sources, including the original paper and the retraction. You may only use credible sources (i.e. CNN.com, FDA.gov, CDC.gov, PubMed, etc). Two of the 5 sources MUST be:
- The original discovery publication.
- The published genome sequence publication.
- You may use any citation style you like (MLA, etc) – just be consistent throughout the paper.
Example citations:
- Journal article/textbook:
- Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, Linnell, Casson DM, Malik M, et al. Ileal lymphoid nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet. 1998; 351:637-41.
- Websites:
- Carson, V. (2015, July 7). The Fun Fascinating World of Microbiology. Retrieved from http://www.hccfl.edu/vcarson.html
