Question #01921
1 Answer
Protein separation, DNA quantification, creating recombinant DNA vectors, insertional mutagenesis, the list is endless, these are fundamental techniques in biology laboratories.
Explanation:
Gel electrphoresis is not only used for DNA, it a great method to separate out mixture of charged particles by size. In biology this is mostly for DNA but you can change the gel to accommodate different sized particles (protein, amino acid, DNA, RNA, etc) depending on the pore size of the gel. For example polyacrylamide gels are commonly used to separate out protein mixtures by size.
PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction basically imitates the cell's process of replicating DNA, you give the machine the primers and set the temperatures for each stage of replication and go for a coffee break (3 or more hours long). Many things can be done:
Biologists can amplify small bits of DNA in order to have enough sample to work with by knowing target sequence they can design a primer that will match to replicate the target.
Vectors are pieces of DNA used to carry bits of DNA you are interested in, sometimes into a specific cell. To put the DNA you want into the vector you need PCR. The primer is designed to match the vector and have the sequence you want copied.
The same can be done if you want to delete a portion of a vector, you design the primer to match DNA sequences before and after the area you want to delete so replication skips over it.
Some further reading:
http://www.bio-rad.com/en-uk/applications-technologies/pcr-polymerase-chain-reaction
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768498/
