Performing Electrophoresis

Last week, the reason I had to wait for my primers to perform PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was because they play an important role. During PCR, these primers target a specific DNA code (Figure 1) and replicate this chain over and over again. This is what happened last week and this week, I used my PCR samples to perform electrophoresis. This process is performed in an agarose gel as electrical currents run through it. At the top, near the DNA slots, it is negatively charged and at the bottom, it is positively charged. Since DNA is negatively charged and considering the fact that opposite charges attract, the DNA is supposed to run towards the positively charged side. Shown below in Figure 2 is the result of my agarose gel after performing electrophoresis.

Figure 1. The primers that will be used to perform PCR and the distinct DNA code each one will target and copy. The values in the 3rd column are the necessary amounts of Tris Hydrochloride needed to be added to each primer before PCR.

Figure 2. The result of an agarose gel after electrophoresis. Looking at the slots at the top, from left to right, the slots contain MW Ruler, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14 (all of the numerical values are post-PCR DNA samples).