A simple Semi-Quantitative Determination of Nucleic Acid

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Establishing a Biotechnology training program in a high school or two-year college environment is challenging.  Many of the basic techniques are quire sophisticated and use  “big ticket “ equipment items. In these posts we will explore ways to present Biotechnology using elements typically found in high school or two-year college labs.   One key problem with high school or two year environments is that   there are not working labs near by that can provide reagents that work, so troubleshooting is a significant endeavor.  Many Biotechnology methods take time to run, so it is an advantage to have a quick determination method. In this first example we are going to demonstrate a simple method to determine the presence of nucleic acids using SYBR  green, a UV light source and an iPhone or iPad.

Here is the protocol:

All volumes are in uL

Tube	tRNA (10mg/ml )	SYBR green 1/100	H2O (Q to)
1	-	1	100
2	1	1	100

tRNA is a convenient economical source of nucleic acid and has enough duplex structure. The reaction is assembled and placed on a UV transilluminator. A cardboard box with a hole serves as a portable darkroom and the image is recorded by an iPhone or iPad.