Refill kit, does not include necessary plasticware and LB-agar media. This lab is easy for teachers to prepare, makes gene targeting accessible to students, and packs a powerful punch! Become a genetic engineer and use CRISPR/Cas to disable a gene in bacteria. Scientists use the CRISPR/Cas system to alter the DNA in living cells. Now you can bring this cutting-edge technique to your advanced biology class! In this lab, E. coli cells which express the lacZ gene from a plasmid will be transformed with another plasmid containing the cas9 gene and a custom guide RNA. This guide RNA contains a sequence complementary to the lacZ gene so, in transformed cells, the guide RNA will target Cas9 to cut the lacZ gene, disabling it. Students can easily identify their CRISPR/Cas knockouts using the color of the bacterial colonies. Cells which express lacZ are able to break down the chemical X-gal into a blue product. Cells with a functional lacz will be blue, while cells in which the CRISPR/Cas system has successfully disabled lacZ will revert to a white phenotype.