Techniques in Molecular Biology

The isolation of pure DNA is a first step in the progress of molecular studies in plant. Organic solvents such as chloroform, phenol or a mixture of phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) are used for denaturation and precipitation of proteins from nucleic acid solution and denatured proteins removed by centrifugation. The isolated DNA should be suitable for restriction digestion, amplification, cloning.

To understand the basic techniques use to work with nucleic acids, remember that nucleic acids are macromolecules made up of nucleotides ( a sugar, phosphate group, nitrogenous base ). An entire set of DNA molecule in the nucleus of eukaryotic oraganism is called genome. DNA has complementary strands linked by hydrogen bonds between the paired bases.

Agarose is a linear polymer extracted from seaweed. Purified agarose is a powder insoluble in water or buffer at room temperature but dissolves on boiling. Electrophoresis is a technique used to seperate charged molecules.

The overall goal of course is to give student knowledge of molecular biology. More than 90% of content presented in short videos not longer than 10 minutes that concisely explains concepts. Pictures are attached to explore the concepts briefly.