Gel Electrophoresis Flashcards
Define gel electrophoresis?
is a method to seperate DNA (or rna and protein) mlcls based on their size, using an electrical field to move mlcls through a gel matrix
What is agarose polymer?
makes the gel that seperates DNA
How does gel electrophoresis work?
The gel is placed in a tank with buffer solution, a negative charge is applied to the top of the gel (where sample) and a positive charge is at the bottom, small dna molecules travel quickly, towards bottom, and larger ones stay at top
Why do DNA mcls move towards a positive charge?
Cause overall dna mlcls are negatively charged.
How do we visualize the dna in the gels?
use stains that bind to dna and are fluorescent under uv light, ex ethidum bromide or sybr safe
What is a molecular ladder?
Is a ladder that contains DNA piece sof known sizes in order to estimate how many bp big your dna sample is.
Dna travels at a rate that is ____ proportional to the _____ of its size
inversely, log
