Question

You wish to perform an electrophoretic resolution of your restriction enzyme-digested DNA. The size of the expected fragments range from 100 to 500bp. You discover two agarose gels polymerizing on the bench, one is 0.5?

Answer 1

In Biology, when conducting agarose gel electrophoresis, a 1% or 1.5% agarose gel is more suitable for separating DNA fragments in the range of 100 to 500 base pairs due to the proper pore size required for resolution.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of the question is electrophoretic resolution, a technique used in Biology for separating DNA fragments of different sizes after restriction enzyme digestion. The decision regarding which agarose gel concentration to use depends on the size of the DNA fragments you expect to separate. In this case, with DNA fragments ranging from 100 to 500 base pairs (bp), a 0.5% gel would be too loose and not ideal for fine resolution, while a 2% gel might be too dense. Thus, a gel with intermediate concentration, such as 1% or 1.5%, would generally be more suitable for separating DNA fragments of this size.

This would provide better resolution and allow you to more precisely distinguish between fragments that are close in size. Moreover, when conducting agarose gel electrophoresis, the pore size of the agarose matrix plays a crucial role, where a higher percentage of agarose creates smaller pores that are necessary for separating smaller DNA fragments.