Step 6: Spool your DNA
If you are in a playful mood, you can use a small rod like a toothpick to spool up your DNA. Insert the toothpick into the DNA precipitate and gently swirl it around, rotating the toothpick at the same time. You're trying to wind the filaments of precipitated DNA around the tip of the toothpick.
Once you think you've got them, you can slowly lift the toothpick out of the solution. You should see it trailing a thin strand... of DNA! (check out the second picture; note that my shot glass has a red yelp logo on it)
At this point, you could prepare the spooled DNA on the toothpick for use in another experiment - for instance, you might be interested in staining the DNA to make sure you actually extracted some of it, or in running it on a homemade gel to separate all the different fragments of DNA by their length. Or you might try and prepare for sequencing (but you would probably need to purify the sample first)
Once you think you've got them, you can slowly lift the toothpick out of the solution. You should see it trailing a thin strand... of DNA! (check out the second picture; note that my shot glass has a red yelp logo on it)
At this point, you could prepare the spooled DNA on the toothpick for use in another experiment - for instance, you might be interested in staining the DNA to make sure you actually extracted some of it, or in running it on a homemade gel to separate all the different fragments of DNA by their length. Or you might try and prepare for sequencing (but you would probably need to purify the sample first)
Remove these ads by
Signing Up
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
wish it works...