Melbourne/Loading a DNA gel

Revision as of 08:52, 8 July 2007 by Patricia (Talk | contribs)

0.8% agarose gel
1x buffer (same as used to prepare the gel, TAE gives sleaner bands and is better for gel purification than TBE)
DNA ladder with dye added (stock of 1kb ladder diluted 1 in 21 in loading dye is in the -20 freezer in iGEM box 1)
DNA to be run with loading dye already added.

Prepare gel and place in electrophoresis tank with the wells towards the black/negative electrode.
Cover with 1x buffer such that there is a 1-2mm layer of buffer covering the gel and the wells are full.
In lane one load 20uL of the ladder DNA
The amount of DNA loaded varies depending on concentration, for the diagnostic digests load 20uL.
- Ensure that you write down the loading order.
If you have sufficient lanes load another 20uL of the ladder in the final lane for greater ease in interpretation.
Place the cover on the electrophoeresis tank. Make sure that you connect black to black and red to red and plug the cables into the power supply.
Set the voltage on the power supply and start. Check the gel after a few minutes to make sure it is running in the correct direction.
Leave the gel running for about an hour then stop the power source or unplug your tank if another tank is using the same source and remove the gel from the bath(still in mould) Check the resolution of the bands by placing on UV light source next to microwave.
If there is not enough resolution continue running the gel until suffiecient is reached. Be careful not to forget the gel and run your DNA off the end of the gel.
If there is sufficient resolution take the gel(in the mould, in a container) to the gel photographing machine in the Cheng lab and photograph the gel.
Dispose of the gel in the ethidium bromide waste bin and the buffer in the liquid ethidium bromide waste.

Ensure that you clean all apparatus that you use