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Two mycobacteriophage genomes were newly sequenced and annotated. Duggie and Hocus were discovered, enriched, and isolated from soil using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. The bacteriophages are lytic Siphoviridae and belong to the B1 subcluster. The Hocus and Duggie genomes are highly similar to one another in both nucleotide sequence and gene content.

Three mycobacteriophages, Bipolarisk, Bread, and FudgeTart, were isolated from enriched soil samples found in Crete, NE. All three phages are lytic, belong to subcluster C1, and infect Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. The structures of the three genomes are similar, with slight variations in gene number and content.

Reports such as Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education call for integration of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) into biology curricula and less emphasis on “cookbook” laboratories. CUREs, often characterized by a single open-ended research question, allow students to develop hypotheses, design experiments, and collaborate with peers. Conversely, “cookbook” labs incentivize task completion and have pre-determined experimental outcomes. While research comparing CUREs and “cookbook” labs is growing, there are fewer comparisons among CUREs. Here, we present a novel CURE built around an invasive grass, Bromus inermis . We evaluated this CURE’s effectiveness in improving students’ understanding of the Vision and Change competency relating to the application of the scientific process through development and testing of hypotheses. We did so by comparing changes in pre- and posttest scores on the Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT) between Brome CURE students and students in a concurrent CURE, SEA-PHAGES. While students in both CUREs showed improvements at the end of the semester, Brome CURE students showed a greater increase in EDAT scores than did SEA-PHAGES CURE students. Additionally, Brome CURE students had significantly higher gains in 6 of the 10 EDAT criteria. We conclude that the Brome CURE is an effective ecological parallel to the SEA-PHAGES CURE and can help students gain a meaningful understanding of Vision and Change competencies. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

Four bacteriophages infecting Mycobacterium smegmatis mc 2 155 (three belonging to subcluster P1 and one belonging to subcluster P2) were isolated from soil and sequenced. All four phages are similar in the left arm of their genomes, but the P2 phage differs in the right arm. All four genomes contain features of temperate phages.