Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Awakening Begins

Hello all! Last semester I was trying out a new project, other than amplifying ant DNA my last spring semester and summer. I decided to try to amplify DNA from a new source such as plants! The protocols for extracting DNA from ants and plants are completely different from one another. It was a difficult process trying to extract DNA from ants, and I was glad to have heard about a new kit I will be using. The kit is called ZR Plant/Seed DNA MiniPrep™, and their website claims the process will take only fifteen minutes. I am hoping this is true because I will be trying to extract from the spines of cholla cacti. I will specifically try to extract DNA from teddy-bear cholla. If you want to find out more about what kit I will be using in the lab feel free to check out the link below!

 https://www.zymoresearch.com/dna/microbial-environmental-dna-isolation-1/soil-fecal-plant-dna/zr-plant-seed-dna-miniprep


I will be conducting this experiment carefully because I do not want to end up looking like this.