Plasmid Isolation (Alkaline Lysis)

Bacterial plasmids, the non-genomic transferable DNA, can easily be purified from bacteria using numerous techniques. The purification of DNA is important for genetic research as it provides a source of transferable DNA and allows researchers to isolate large amounts of recombinant DNA. One common technique for plasmid purification is the alkaline lysis method, which breaks open bacteria with an alkaline solution, proteins are removed by precipitation and the plasmid DNA is recovered with alcohol precipitation.

Students purify bacterial plasmids from a liquid culture using this alkaline lysis method.