Get out a scratch piece of paper. Biology 100 - warm up Get out a scratch piece of paper. Turn to a partner and together describe or draw a diagram of how PCR works.

Lab 04 - Microbe Detectives 1) Samples can be obtained by a variety of methods, and genomic DNA from both the pathogen and the host is then isolated. 2) PCR can be used to determine whether or not an individual is infected with a particular microbe. 3) Gel electrophoresis allows visualization of the PCR products.

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique by which any segment of DNA can be copied quickly and precisely. Through PCR, scientists can obtain enough DNA from even minute amounts of blood or other samples to allow DNA identification of microbes. Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

Gel Electrophoresis Gel Electrophoresis Can be used to separate and visualize the DNA fragments obtained from different sources.

The DNA fragments are visualized as “bands” on the gel. The bands of different DNA samples can then be compared. PCR Sample DNA Ladder