• Prepare a 2% or 1% Agarose Gel (amount in grams depending on volume of TAE buffer used). Add 0.1% Ethidium Bromide of the total volume.

• Place the gel in the Electrophoresis Apparatus with the wells facing the Negative Electrode.

• Fill the apparatus with 1% TAE Buffer to fully submerge the wells.

• Load 5µL of 1kb Ladder for each Run

• Add 0.1% of 10% Loading Dye to the respective volume of sample. Mix well and spin down.

• Pipette the samples into the wells and run at 106 Volts.

Gel Purification of DNA (Qiagen QIAquick Gel Extraction Kit)

• Exercise the DNA fragment from the Agarose Gel using a scalpel. Minimize the extra peripheral gel slice.

• Weigh the gel slice (0.1g = 100uL) and add 3 Volumes of Buffer QG to every 1 Volume of Gel.

• Incubate in 50°C water bath for 10 minutes to completely dissolve the gel slice.

• Add 1 Volume of Isopropanol to the sample. Mix well

• Apply the sample to the QIAquick column. Centrifuge at 13,500 rpm for 1 minute. [Repeat till the total volume of the sample has sieved through the column]. Discard the flow through

• Apply 0.5mL Buffer QG to the QIAquick column. Centrifuge at 13,500 rpm for 1 minute.

• Discard the flow through

• Wash the column with 0.75mL Buffer PE. Centrifuge at 13,500 rpm for 1 minute.

• Discard the flow through and Centrifuge at 13,500 rpm for an additional 1 minute to eliminate any residual ethanol.

• Place the QIAquick column into a 1.5mL Eppendorf tube.

• Apply the 30uL warm H₂O to the column. Let the column stand for at least 1 minute.

• Centrifuge at 13,500 rpm for 1 minute.
   

Determining DNA Concentration Using NanoDrop Spectrophotometry

• Choose the Nucleic Acid Measurement option in the programme.

• Initialize the NanoDrop by adding 1uL clean H₂O. Clean the sensor gently with tissue.

• Set Blank by adding an additional 1uL of clean H₂O. Wipe off.

• Add 1uL of the DNA sample to be measured. Wipe off after each run.

DNA Digestion

__μL   ddH2O (to a total of 40uL)

4μL     10X NEBuffer

0.4μL  100X BSA

1ug     DNA Sample

__μL   1^st Restriction Enzyme

__μL   2^nd Restriction Enzyme (optional)

40μL Total

 Notes:

- The NEB official website should be checked for buffers suitable for each restriction enzyme. Results can vary depending on double or single digestion.

- Incubate the digestion sample at 37°C for 3 hours (digestion time can also vary depending on enzyme). Prolonged digestion may lead to Star Activity otherwise.

- The volume of DNA must be calculated from its concentration. In restriction digestion test, the minimum volume that is equals 1ug DNA can be utilized. However, for purification, a much greater volume of DNA should be used.   

- Appropriate amount of enzyme is derived from its concentration and the fact that 5 units of enzyme digest 1ug DNA.

Dephosphorylation of 5' Ends of Vector Backbone

- Add 0.5µL (0.5 units per 1 ug DNA) of Calf Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase (CIAP) to the digested sample

immediately after digestion.

- Incubate at 37°C for 30 minutes

Vector-Insert Ligation

__μL  Autoclaved ddH2O (to a total of 20uL)

2μL    T4 Ligase Buffer

1μL    T4 DNA Ligase

__μL  Vector DNA

__μL   Insert DNA

20μL  Total

Notes:

- Insert and Vector must be in a 3:1 ratio. The amount of each depends on their concentration (ng/uL) and legnth (bp).

- Incubate at room temperature for 1 hour. 

PCR Deletion (Site-Directed Mutagenesis) Reaction

Note: Keep everything on ice and add all volumes in a PCR tube.

? µL ddH2O (? = whatever volume needed to bring the total volume up to 50µL)

5.0μL 10x PfuUltra buffer

1.0μL dNTPs

? uL forward primer = 125ng fwd primer ÷ fwd primer concentration (ng/µL)

? uL reverse primer = 125ng rvs primer ÷ rvs primer concentration (ng/µL)

? µL dsDNA= 20ng insert ÷ insert concentration (ng/µL)

1.0μL PfuUltra high-fidelity DNA polymerase

50.0μL Total
 

- Volumes of diluted primer based on calculations for our ng/µL concentrations

95°C for 2min

95°C for 30sec (18 times)

55°C for 30sec

72°C for 1 min/kb

1min/kb corresponds to: 3.20min (RFP), 3.50min (VioA), 5.40min (VioB), 3.00min (VioE)