Set-Up for DNA & Principles of
Gel Electrophoresis Field Trip

I. COLORED DYES

1. Equipment needed on each lab bench:

• 4 colored Dye protocols
• 4 pairs of goggles
• 4 lab coats
• 1 waste beaker
• 2 p20 Pipetman (set at 10μl)
• 2 boxes of yellow tips
• 1 test tube rack containing:
• Dye Set
• Practice Dye (dilute food coloring)
• Sharpies

2. Equipment needed per lab:

• 1 centrifuge
• Colored pencils
• Pencils
• DNA Nametags
• Human DNA Fragments
• UV light box
• Black paper

3. Equipment needed to run gels:

• 1 gel box for every bench/group
• 1 power supply for every 2 gel boxes
• 1x Sodium Borate buffer
• ,1 gel for each bench/group (4 students)


• 1% agarose gel
• 6-well comb in a middle position of gel

4. Dye Sets (12μl in each tube):

• Sample #1 = Black food coloring
• Samples #2-5 = Various other colors
• Each set should contain either Safranin O, Pyronin Y,
  or Methyl Green, which run toward the negative electrode
• Sample #6 = 1kb DNA marker with FOTOVision

5. Making glycerol Dye Stocks:

• Food Coloring
• Prepare a 10% glycerol solution
• In a 1.5ml tube, combine 1ml of glycerol solution and 50&956;l food coloring
• Sharpies
• Dye Powders
• combine 0.2g of dye powder and 10ml deionized water as your dye stock
• Prepare a 50% glycerol solution
• In a 25ml graduated cylinder, combine 2ml glycerol solution, 1ml dye stock, and 17ml deionized water

II. DNA BRACELET

1. Equipment needed for each student:

• 1cup containing:
• 36 round beads (2 colors, 18 each)
• 16 star beads (4 colors, 4 each)
• 8 small pipe cleaners (~1.5 inches)
• 2 long pipe cleaners

III. Reagent Ordering Info

• Glycerol (Fisher Scientific Part# AC29560-2500 or equivalent). Table sugar can be used as a thickener for food coloring
• 1kb DNA marker (Promega Part# G7541 or similar)
• FOTO/Vision fluorescent safe stain (FOTODYNE Part#E1-1843)
• Positively-charged dyes:
• SafraninO (Fisher Scientific part#AC41921-0250
• Pyronin Y (Fisher Scientific part#AC41863-0010
• Methyl Green (Fisher Scientific part#ICN806404)
• Sodium Borate running buffer (fasterbettermedia.com)
• Agarose

IV. References

The above lab protocol was adapted from protocols originally published online by the University of Arizona BIOTECH Project (http://biotech.bio5.org/)