DNA-Elution from gel: Easy and Fast Way

[Ed Castro]

Oliver Berkowitz wrote:
> 
> Hi everybody,
> I´m searching for a fast and easy way of getting my DNA-fragments (about
> 1 kb) out of agarose-gels. At present I cut the bands out and spin the
> agarose-block on a Whatman-filter in a Eppendorf-tube. The effeciency is
> very poor. Is there anybody with a good technique ???
> Thanks for helping me, bye.

Need a syringe and either a .2 or .22 uM filter.  Cut the band, place it in the syringe, 
attach the filter, squeeze gel and capture the liquid.   If desired, after initial squeeze: 
remove filter, pull piston out of syringe, add 100-200 ul of TE on top of agarose plug, 
replace filter and squeeze again.
Ethanol precipitate and resusped in desired volume. 

60-70% recovery. Fragments recovered have been succesfully used for labelling and 
ligation reactions.

Reference: Biotechniques Vol 16, #3, pp. 400-401, 1994

Hope this helps!

Edmundo Castro-Vargas