Five Key DNA Analysis Supplies for Modern Biology Experiments

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DNA Analysis Supplies

DNA analysis supplies from Modern Biology bring the facts your students learn about DNA to life with hands-on experiences in scientific thinking. Modern Biology provides kits, teacher guides, and other resources for laboratory instruction on genetics and other DNA-related topics that save you time and fit your budget. With DNA analysis supplies from Modern Biology, your students will achieve laboratory skinks related to DNA extraction, DNA replication, genetic engineering, and PCR.

Kits of DNA Analysis Supplies, models, activities, teaching aids, and other supplies for classroom instruction on genetics and DNA-related topics including heredity, the genetic basis of disease, Mendelian genetics, DNA extraction, DNA replication, and PCR.

Here are five essentials.

Electrophoresis Units

Electrophoresis is an essential tool for DNA analysis. It is also a key tool for the analysis of proteins and antibodies. Modern Biology offers electrophoresis units for every budget and lab courses of any size.

VEU: Vertical Electrophoresis Unit

The VEU allows your students to do electrophoresis on two precast acrylamide gels simultaneously. When the system is run at 170 volts, electrophoresis takes about 40 minutes.

Walter Products EL-100 1 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit

The Walter Products EL-100 1 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit is perfect for demonstrations. Fitted with corrosion-resistant platinum wires, this also comes with six tooth combs and can run up to 16 samples simultaneously. The unit comes with adjustable leveling feet and a safety stop that prevents the flow of current when the cover is not secure. 

This unit has positive and negative signs etched on either end of the medium to ensure correct placement. It requires 500 ml of buffer.

Walter Products 2 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit

The Walter Products 2 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit is the right choice for experiments involving larger groups of students. It allows two 7 cm x 7 cm gel trays to run at the same time on the same instrument. Like all Walter electrophoresis units, it has a safety stop that prevents the flow of current before the protective cover is in place. Each tray has an embossed ruler and rubber end caps for easy comb placement. The 2-chamber unit also requires 500 ml of buffer, as well as its own power strip.

Walter Products 6 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit

The Walter Products 6 Chamber Electrophoresis Unit allows easy comparison of up to six simultaneous runs of electrophoresis on a single unit. Like other Walter electrophoresis units, this model has a safety stop to prevent students and instructors from getting shocked. Each tray of this model is also embossed for easy reading. This unit needs 1000 ml of buffer solution, as well as a power strip.

If you are looking for an imaging enclosure suitable for your smartphone, consider our E1201 myGel InstaView™ Electrophoresis System & Accessories. The viewer makes it easy to track progress during a run (a great feature when you are running out of lab time), and the system is compatible with safe stains such as SYBR® Green and SmartGlow™.

Agarose

Gel electrophoresis is impossible without making gels. Modern Biology sells both agarose for horizontal electrophoresis chambers and a polyacrylamide electrophoresis package for vertical electrophoresis.

Agarose is the most popular and the most convenient medium for fractionating DNA, RNA, and proteins. Modern Biology’s high-concentration agarose has the large pore size needed to let large molecules through without the air bubbles that can ruin an experiment.

Cutting corners with agarose is never a good idea. Modern Biology advises against recycling gels. Reheating a gel in an acidic medium degrades it, so molecules take less time to cross the plate. Freezing and rethawing only works if you use the same buffer solution. Modern Biology strongly recommends one-time-only use, but we price our gels affordably so they don’t strain your laboratory supply budget.

Electrophoresis Buffer

Modern Biology offers Tris-Acetate-EDTA (TAE) buffer for electrophoresis of DNA, RNA, and other proteins in either agarose or polyacrylamide gels. You can use our TAE buffer for either genomic or large supercoiled DNA, and you can use it both for gel preparation and for running experiments.

Two more DNA lab supplies are appropriate in every curriculum.

pUC18 DNA

Modern Biology’s E.coli-pUC18 is a high-copy number E. coli plasmid, with a length of 2686 base pairs. It contains multiple cloning sites identical to those of a pUC-19 vector except that they are arranged in the opposite order. 

Nearly all of the pUC 18 DNA is in the supercoiled form after it is purified by chromatography. The high copy number of this pUC 18 DNA results from the lack of the rop gene and a single point mutation in the replicon rep of pMB1. Resistance to ampicillin is conferred by the blah gene, which encodes beta-lactamase. This mutant gene differs from its source pBR322 by two point mutations. Investigators reading a genetic map for this plasmid need to know that replication begins at DNA replication initiates at position 866 (± 1).

Modern Biology also sells a complete, ready-to-use E. coli transformation kit, including E.coli, pUC18, CaCl₂, nutrient broth, inoculating loops, micropipettes, tubes, petri dishes, and 400ml of nutrient agar-ampicillin. We offer a complete experiment kit for Identifying Genomic and Plasmid DNA Sequences in E.coli by Colony PCR, which is preparatory for our popular experiment Producing a Strain of E. coli that Glows in the Dark.

Calf Thymus DNA

Calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) is a natural form of DNA that has been used in thousands of experiments focused on the changes in DNA resulting from molecules that are bound to it. It is also used in studies of the behavior of DNA in isolation.

Modern Biology’s purified calf thymus DNA is a highly polymerized mixture of single-strand and double-strand DNA, although double-strand DNA predominates. To avoid shearing the DNA, stirring, shaking, and sonication are not advised.

Modern Biology uses calf thymus DNA DD to introduce the Properties of DNA and in our experiments on Cell Fractionation and DNA Isolation and the Structure, Isolation, and Function of DNA.

 

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