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Thursday, October 23, 2014

Week 8, Semester 2. Success!

Hello! And welcome back to my blog.

This week, I resumed testing of samples previously extracted from E. coli bacterium. Both protocols submitted for analysis utilized a 0.3 ml TBS and 10 µl SDS solution to lyse the cells, a 55°C heating and ice cooling method combined with a protein precipitation solution to reduce protein contamination and an isopropanol/ethanol wash to precipitate chromosomal DNA and clean the DNA pellet.The protocols differed in the substances used for protein precipitation; protocol one (P1) utilized proteinase K, and protocol two (P2) utilized a guanadine hydrochloride/sodium acetate solution. They also differed in length of precipitation in isopropanol; P1 was in solution for five minutes while P2 remained in solution @ -20°C for five days.

The samples were placed in an electrophoresis gel for analysis. The gels were created @ a ratio of 20 g agarose/100 ml 1 X TAE buffer ratio, with 4 µl of 10,000x concentration SYBY green DNA stain added to solution post-heating.

The spectrometer was also used to measure ultraviolet absorbance ratios of the four samples. Samples were subjected to 260 nm, 280 nm, and 320 nm consecutively.

Results:

DNA!

All four samples showed banding in the gel; P1 sample two contained the most clearly visible banding. The photo that follows is of the samples. The clarity is a bit off due to the age of the camera used to capture the image.

Calculations from the spectrometer readings to follow on my next blog. Happy learning!

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