In article <4e53v3$pne at mserv1.dl.ac.uk>,
Joe Bateman <Joseph.Bateman at ucl.ac.uk> wrote:
>Dear everyone,
> I am a molecular biology first year PHd student and
>therefore carry out procedures such as bacterial minipreps on a day to day
>basis. One thing which has been puzzling me is the chemical interaction
>between the alcohol, for example ethanol or isopropanol, and DNA which
>causes the DNA to precipitate and come out of solution. I am aware that the
>addition of sodium acetate allows the sodium salt of DNA to form enabling
>its aggregation but am unsure of the chemistry behind the actual DNA
>precipitation. If anyone could shed any light on this subject I would be
>interested to hear from them.
?? At high ionic strengths DNA simply has very low solubility in 70%
or more ethanol. I don't think there's anything mysterious here...
--
Opinions are mine alone; I never met a university with opinions!
Steve LaBonne ********************* (labonnes at cnsunix.albany.edu)
"It can never be satisfied, the mind, never." - Wallace Stevens
