Is there a way of precipitating DNA from water without using ethanol? for example, mixing DNA with glycogen and ammonium acetate and then spinning it long enough so the bound glycogen+dna would form a pellet?
Not sure why would you like to avoid ethanol, or what else in your water (i.e. what are you purifying from) but there are may DNA binding column out there. Google "Concentrate DNA from water"
Hi Yoram, I need to spin a large volume of water and I cannot mix it with large quantities of ethanol since it is flammable. DNA binding columns are not really an option given the large volume that I am working with. However, concentrating DNA using a vacuum centrifuge is a great idea that I hadn't thought of. Thanks for your help.
Vacuum-centrifuge large volumes will be very time consuming... How "large" is the volume? Also, is the DNA free or do you need to break down cells? Also, plasmid/'short' or genomic 'long' DNA?
Take a look here
https://www.qiagen.com/nl/service-and-support/learning-hub/technologies-and-research-topics/plasmid-resource-center/qiagen-anion-exchange-resin/
As you can see Qiagen suggest using ion-exchange columns for DNA extraction (DNA is highly negative charged due to the phosphate backbone) and their columns come in a variety of sizes. You can play with pH and salinity to get stronger or weaker binding.
Assuming you are concentrating naked I am rather sure you can take your water sample, add concentrated Tris buffer to the desired concentration, and run it through a column. If your water is turbid you will need to per-centrifuge or per-filtrate to remove particles.
I would suggest a chat with Qiagen (or similar) tech-support. Feel free to ask me again if needed.
- Badges
- Science topic