DNA?

[Maryfox]

I am intrigued by a student kit to extract plant DNA. What optics are necessary to view DNA?

[wporter]

DNA is visible with a 100x objective, but it is all coiled up (with the coils coiled, etc.) into a chromosome. So you will not be able to see the actual double-helix of DNA, just the giant hyper-organized wad that is the chromosome: a reduction in length from the meter(s)-long DNA strand into a chromosome a few microns across (about a 1,000,000x reduction in size.)

[Wes]

Recently I prepared a large amount of supercoiled plasmid DNA from E.coli and let it form DNA liquid crystals on a slide. For this you don't need high magnification at all. You can actually observe single DNA strands but first you need to label actively replicating cells with 5-halogenated uridine analogues, then lyse the cells, spread the DNA on a slide and stain with antibodies against the nucleoside analogues. Using two different nucleosides one can learn a lot about replication dynamics. For this you need 40x-100x objective.

[Maryfox]

Thanks for quick responses. My curiosity now demands that I buy this kit. Looks interesting:
https://www.homesciencetools.com/produc ... ion-anchor

Mary

[Maryfox]

Wes -
Your detailed response just leads me to do some online research into the process - just out of curiosity. My "lab" is one end of a dining room table. I lack knowledge and resources to go much beyond what I'll get from the kit.
Mary

[MicroBob]

Hi Mary,
at a group meeting we were showed how to extract the DNA of a Kiwi with general kitchen stuff. Maybe you can save the money for the kit. Here is a link to a similar experiment: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/get- ... kiwi-fruit

Bob

[Wes]

Wes -
Your detailed response just leads me to do some online research into the process - just out of curiosity. My "lab" is one end of a dining room table. I lack knowledge and resources to go much beyond what I'll get from the kit.
Mary

I don't think you need a dedicated kit for isolating plant DNA. Just a few rather common chemicals.

Have a look at the video I've linked to below. Its from one of my favourite youtubers and it gives you a detailed account on how to get DNA out of strawberries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=araeHtN_3Lk

[Maryfox]

Thanks, Guys, for the links. I'll give this a try
Mary