First round in.

I completed the DNA extraction protocol. On the positive side, I was able to extract a fairly large amount of DNA! On the negative side, the DNA appeared to be heavily sheared. There is a possibility that this still could generate good results with PCR, but I would rather see what I can do to reduce potential shearing points in my use of the protocol. I will also be re-evaluating the stop points I made in the protocol (for class and such), to see if I can smooth out the rather lengthy protocol and possibly eliminate points that are detrimental to the quality of the extraction.

In the above gels, you can see the faintest hint of banding. The smear is a result of DNA shearing. The lanes all contain 1μL of loading dye, and (from left to right) 2μL, 4μL, 6μL, and 8μL of the DNA extraction.

Next week I will conduct two different extractions for comparison to this protocol. One is similar to techniques I tried last semester. The other is one that I never heard of before. Matt Haberkorn came across it and told me about it. I need to do some research to find a good protocol for this extraction; it is evidently a sucrose based extraction. I will have more info on this in next weeks blog update.