Caenorhabditis elegans, a small (adults are ~1 mm long), free-living soil nematode that feeds on bacteria, is an ideal organism for applying various live microscopy techniques. This protocol describes useful techniques for preparing C. elegans for live microscopic analysis. Details of sample preparation depend on the developmental stage of the worm to be studied. - [Read Live Imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans: Preparation of Samples]
Tubulin is polymerized into microtubules by incubating tubulin at 37°C with GTP. A nucleation seed is added when the purpose is to assay microtubule elongation. Tubulin can also be polymerized for the purposes of recycling the tubulin or labeling the microtubules with fluorescently labeled tubulin. Based on the protocol by Timothy Mitchison of Harvard University.
Unlike spherical phage, such as T4 and λ, which have roughly equal weight ratios of protein to DNA, filamentous phage have about six times more protein than DNA; the protein therefore contributes substantially to the absorption spectrum.
3' Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends RACE Using PCR Protocol. This protocol contains the steps for 3' end rapid amplification of mRNA by PCR. The first-strand cDNA is synthesized from total or poly(A+) RNA by priming from the poly-A tail of the mRNA using a oligo (dT) adaptor primer. The cDNA is then amplified via PCR using a gene-specific primer and an adaptor primer.