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Drosophila Melanogaster Lab Report

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Introduction Genes are unique segments of DNA and in this laboratory experiment, the Actin gene of Drosophila melanogaster will be extracted and amplified with various laboratory processes including PCR, ligation, and transformation. Also, the gene that was extracted will be confirmed and sequenced with the process of cycle sequencing and with the help of NCBI database. The DNA that is first extracted will be referred to as “genomic DNA” because it was extracted directly from the fruit fly, but later on, it will be referred to as “plasmid DNA” and this is when it is incorporated in the plasmid. Drosophila melanogaster or the fruit fly is one of the most commonly used organisms in genetic experiment. They are commonly used because of their small size, four homologous pair of chromosomes, easy maintenance, and easily observable traits (Pierce, 2012).
Groups extracted either the 18S or the Actin gene of Drosophila melanogaster. The 18S gene is located on the flies X chromosome and has a length of 488 base pairs. The Actin gene is located on chromosome 3 of the fly and it has a length of 4,760 base pairs (Adams, 2000), but we are …show more content…

In this case, our plasmid DNA is isolated from a liquid culture of the E.coli that was transformed. This is done by reacting the liquid culture with five buffers. The buffers are P1, P2, N3, PE, and an elution buffer. P1 is used to re-suspend the pellet and degrade RNA, P2 is used to lyse cell membrane, PE is used to wash the sample, the elution buffer is used to release DNA from the spin column, and N3 is used to precipitate proteins and genomic DNA. The main components of P1 are Tris, EDTA, and RNase. The main components of P2 are NaOH and SDS. The main component of PE is ethanol and the main component of N3 is acetic acid. The main component elution buffer is water. The possible contaminations of mini-prep are proteins and salts (Garey et al.,

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