We got BUBBLES, BOYZ!!

 

As one travels along the soul-searching path of growing sourdough starters, one must also update his loyal fanbase on the progress that has been made. Similarly to Odysseus, my starters have been through the absolute ringer. Starting at the end of last week, I forgot to feed and water my starters, effectively missing one whole day. The starters were.... rough looking, to say the least. Dried up and brittle, the collective crust of the three trials was looking rather dire. I recognized the mistake and set out to correct it with the correct portions of food and dechlorinated water, hoping that I wasn't too late, being a day off of schedule and all (sweats nervously).

Lo and behold, for I have salvaged the scraps of my experiments and prevailed! Three days after my experiment's beginning, a revival occurred and my three starters have... risen (that pun was soooo intended)! Feast your eyes on my beautiful bubbly boys!

(Control Group)

(Banana Variable)

(Mango Trouble Child)

(all photos taken Tuesday, February 2nd, at 9:00 PM, five days after starting the experiment)

Now, some of my keen-eyed readers may notice that my mango experiment was labeled as troublesome. This is accurate, for the mango has yet to fully decompose and still, quite stubbornly if I may add, maintains a solid form, making it difficult to stir and dispose of the appropriate measures of substance. As far as the smell and phenotype of these starters, they all look dough-like and are semi-viscous. The control smells like yeast-like, while the banana and mango groups smell fruity. No hooch has developed yet, and they are still on a 24-hour feeding cycle. 

Now for one of my least favorite subjects in school, history. In order to fully understand and connect with these starters, we must traverse time, space, and the internet to learn of their origins. Bananas are thought to have hailed from Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, and are considered to also be the first cultivated fruit! It was utilized by Arabic cultures and brought westward, then carried to the New World by Europeans. Mangoes, on the other hand, originated in India and were carried across the world by Buddhism's religious spread, as the mango is also a sacred fruit. 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. One purpose of this project is to sequence the DNA that our starters have in them so that we can better understand the microorganisms causing the starters to rise and fall. Before this week, I knew a little bit about DNA sequencing, but nothing terribly informative or practical. I knew that it consisted of reading nitrogenous bases off of a gene and creating a map of sorts with that information, along with using that newfound knowledge to better understand genetic conditions/principles. I briefly learned about NGS and Sanger sequencing, but remember very little of either process. 

The main difference between the two methods mentioned above lies in the sequence volume. Sanger only sequences one fragment of DNA at a time, while NGS sequences millions of fragments per use. NGS has improved upon the Sanger sequencing method by creating sequencing libraries, amplifying the signal within from each target fragment of DNA, and then reading them off simultaneously via "sequencing by synthesis", or synthesizing base DNA, detecting the base relating to it, and removing the reactants to restart the cycle. This is more time efficient (and thus cheaper) than the reading of the DNA at the one fragment rate. 

While I don't understand the reduced cycle amplification process, I understood most of the Illumina (synthesis sequencing method). I also did not completely understand what an oligo was, but could grasp the clonal amplification and polymerase's role in the process. 

Well, that'll about do it for this week. I am still eager to continue the experiment and sequence the starters' DNA, but you'll have to keep following my blogs for that! Stay tuned, readers!

With warm regards,

Joseph Lewis, your sardonic science student. 

Citations: An Expedited Guide to Knowledge Previously Unknown!

http://makefruitfair.org/where-do-bananas-come-from/

https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/school-nutrition/pdf/fact-sheet-mango.pdf

https://emea.illumina.com/science/technology/next-generation-sequencing/ngs-vs-sanger-sequencing.html

https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/sequencing/sequencing-learning-center/next-generation-sequencing-information/ngs-basics/what-is-next-generation-sequencing.html