Changing colors and understanding: the use of mutant chromogenic protein and informational suppressor strains of Escherichia coli to explore the central dogma of molecular biology

ABSTRACT The central dogma of molecular biology is a key concept for undergraduate students in the life sciences as it describes the flow of information in living systems from gene-to-gene product. However, despite often being covered in many introductory life science courses, students may still have misconceptions surrounding the central dogma even as they move on to advanced courses. Active learning strategies such as laboratory activities can be useful in addressing such misconceptions. In the laboratory exercise presented here, senior undergraduate students explore the intricacies of nonsense suppressor mutations to challenge their understanding of the central dogma. The students introduce a plasmid carrying a nonfunctional chromogenic protein gene due to a nonsense mutation in a codon encoding the chromophore to various nonsense suppressor strains of Escherichia coli . Students then observe distinct chromogenic phenotypes, depending on the suppressor strain. Students showed a moderate increase in understanding of the central dogma. While the central dogma remains a challenging concept, active learning strategies like the one presented here can help reduce conceptual errors.