Week+November+21

__November 21st__ Today we set up ligations and tested the plasmid DNA that we have been sent in order to prove that the template is not able to survive the denaturation process. A‍‍‍fter the denaturation of the template, the DNA should not be able to reassemble itself. Next time we meet, we will be moving onto something newer, working with amino acids. ‍‍‍ Denaturation means that we heated the DNA sample dissolved in water to 90 degrees for the same amount of time as PCR, and the strands of DNA should have been seperated. After the repeated heating the plasmid should not have survived, however the DNA still survived and provided bacteria to plate. (Image from Google Images) The above picture illustrates denaturation. Heat seperates the strands of DNA. When the strands are then cooled, they annealled. However, we had hypothesized that the strands would not be able to because they would be destroyed, but our hypothesis was proved wrong. __November 23rd__ We will not be meeting today because of the holiday.