As a professional science geek that does molecular biology for a living (as long as the funding holds up, anyway) I think what you're doing a absolutely fantastic.
Quick hint: I noticed that the the plasmid you're using has a ColE1 origin of replication that is, I believe, specific for E. coli. I don't think it'll work in your bugs. Prokaryotic DNA replication isn't my speciality (not even close) so I could be wrong, but you might want to look into it.
ColE1 origin
As a professional science geek that does molecular biology for a living (as long as the funding holds up, anyway) I think what you're doing a absolutely fantastic.
Quick hint: I noticed that the the plasmid you're using has a ColE1 origin of replication that is, I believe, specific for E. coli. I don't think it'll work in your bugs. Prokaryotic DNA replication isn't my speciality (not even close) so I could be wrong, but you might want to look into it.
Best of luck...