Question

An E. coli colony grew on minimal medium supplemented with arginine and leucine. However, bacteria from this colony are unable to grow and form colonies on minimal medium supplemented with arginine and methionine. What genotype of the bacteria in this E. coli colony is compatible with the experiments?

Answer 1

Answer:

the genotype of the bacteria in this E.coli colony is arg^+leu^-met^+

Explanation:

The organism which, due to the lack of particular genes, can not synthesize a particular metabolite or nutrient by itself and needs the nutrient to the growing supplement is called auxotroph. The colony E.coli began to grow on a limited medium with arginine and leucine, and not with arginine and methionine in the above mentioned case. Leucine is therefore a vital metabolite required to grow bacteria and bacteria that do not contain the leu  gene.

Therefore. the genotype of the bacteria in this E.coli colony is arg^+leu^-met^+