Final Lab Practical

How can a human being be identified from a blood sample using gel electrophoresis?

Gel electrophoresis used in forensic science is a way to analyze DNA. Because the DNA of each person is unique, the patterns of separation created using gel electrophoresis are unique

Transcription

the organic process whereby the DNA sequence in a gene is copied into mRNA

What charge is carried by the pigments in this separation? Support your answer.

DNA has a negative charge due to the negative charge of its phosphate component. The other two components of DNA consist of a 5-carbon sugar and a nitrogen base. The phosphate are found in the ribose-phosphate backbone of DNA. ... Because of their negative charge, DNA and RNA will move towards the positive phase.

translation

Process by which mRNA is decoded and a protein is produced

What determines the rate of DNA movement in a gel?

Shorter strands of DNA move more quickly through the gel than longer strands resulting in the fragments being arranged in order of size.

Why does DNA travel to the positive pole?

The DNA molecules have a negative charge because of the phosphate groups in their sugar-phosphate backbone, so they start moving through the matrix of the gel towards the positive pole.

What determines the direction of DNA movement in a gel

The direction of movement is affected by the charge of the molecules DNA is a negatively charged molecule, so it will move toward the positive pole of the gel when a current is applied.

Why do the dyes move in the direction they do once the power is turned on?

They move toward the positive pole because DNA has a negative charge

DNA FINGERPRINTING PROCEDURE

we took .10 ml of our strawberry DNA and .20 ml of dye and mixed it in a test tube. We took .12 mL of that mixture and placed it in to one of the wells in the gel, as did the rest of the class. The apparatus was turned on and bubbles appeared. The DNA migrated toward the positive electrode, or anode. The gel tray was removed from the apparatus and covered in blue dye. We did not use ethidium bromide because that is a toxic carcinogen that can stick to DNA and cause cancer. After a few minutes we viewed the gel slab under a UV light to see the DNA, which appeared in shadows.