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gel electrophoresis and southern blotting

Could someone please explain to me what both these are for ? I've tried searching the internet and i honestly cannot find something which explains the difference between the? Pleasee, even a link explaining them both in detail would do.

I don't understand what is the point of them both? are these used together?

Reply 1

Z-Ninja

Its all genetic fingerprinting, forensic science stuff...
heres a link on gel electrophoresis which is very good :smile:

..hope it helps.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

Reply 2

CoolDude

A Southern blot is a method routinely used in molecular biology for detection of a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples. Southern blotting combines transfer of electrophoresis-separated DNA fragments to a filter membrane and subsequent fragment detection by probe hybridization. The method is named after its inventor, the British biologist Edwin Southern.[1] [derived from Wikipedia]

But, gel electrophoresis is a part (usually the primary step) of many techniques; such as northern, southern & western blots ....etc.

Hope that helps :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3

interact

Z-ninja the links amazing, really helped

thanks cool dude!

does anyone have a good link for southern blotting,

Reply 4

atheistwithfaith

Original post by interact

Z-ninja the links amazing, really helped

thanks cool dude!

does anyone have a good link for southern blotting,

Just a minor pedantic point, but you should always write Southern blotting with a capital S because it's named after the guy who invented it - Edwin Southern.

Then some joker scientists named their techniques northern blot, eastern blot and western blot as a piss-take.

That might make more sense as to why they called a DNA technique after a compass direction (ie. it's not).

Reply 5

Revd. Mike

Original post by Z-Ninja

Its all genetic fingerprinting, forensic science stuff...
heres a link on gel electrophoresis which is very good :smile:

..hope it helps.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

Just a small point, but it's not all forensic science stuff. I use agarose gel electrophoresis for DNA analysis pretty much every day, and I'm yet to solve a crime :p: