The goal of this lab was to complete Gel Electrophoresis on our control and environment samples.  This will allow us to analyze the sizes of nucleotide chains in our samples by comparing them to the DNA ladder.

Steps:

1. prepare agarose gel and the electrophoresis enclosure.
   1. remove solidified gel from the mold
   2. place in the center of the enclosure with the wells facing toward the black electrode
   3. create 300 ml of 1 x TAE buffer from a 10 x solution by placing 30 ml of the 10 x solution in 270 ml of D.I. water
   4. gently pour the buffer solution into the enclosure.
2. inject the samples into the wells
   1. add 5 µL of loading dye to each sample
   2. place 10 µL of each sample in their own well making sure to insert the tip of the pipette into the well without going through the gel
   3.  place 5 µL of the DNA laddar into one of the wells
3. begin the gel electrophoresis
   1. place the lid on top of the enclosure
   2. connect each electrode to the matching electrode on the power sorce
   3. set the power source to 110 volts for 30 minutes

Our Power Source

Our gel electrophoresis after 10 minutes

Our wells

1. test 1 (D.I. water and loading dye)
2. test 2 (D.I. water and loading dye)
3. test 2 (D.I. water and loading dye)
4. positive control
5. negative control
6. environmental sample
7. empty
8. DNA ladder

our agarose gel after gel electrophoresis, and viewed under UV light

After viewing our test under UV light there are no positive results even within the positive control.  This means that the problem most likely occurred on a step shared by the environmental DNA and the positive control.