Ultrafiltration is an alternative to ethanol precipitation for the concentration and desalting of nucleic acid solutions. It requires no phase change and is particularly useful for dealing with very low concentrations of nucleic acids. This protocol describes the use of the Microcon cartridge, a centrifugal ultrafiltration device, to concentrate and desalt nucleic acid solutions. - [Read Concentrating and Desalting Nucleic Acids with Microconcentrators Protocol]
In vitro transcription reactions employing T3, T7 or SP6 phage-encoded RNA polymerases are widely used to synthesize RNA from recombinant vectors containing appropriate promoters. Production of large amounts of specific RNA is valuable in the preparation of hybridization probes and in vitro translation studies; in the synthesis of ribozymes, rRNA, SRP, antisense RNA and substrates for RNA splicing; and in RNA-protein interaction studies. - [Read Protocol: Purification of In Vitro Synthesized mRNA with Microcon or Centricon Centrifugal Filters]
DNA microarrays are an ordered arrangement of DNA molecules complementary to genes of interest that are "spotted" by robotic equipment onto a glass slide substrate. The expression of genes in cells can be monitored with microarrays by preparing cDNA from the mRNA of cells of interest and measuring the hybridization to the microarray. This protocol describes the labeling of genomic DNA for use as a probe for hybridization to the cDNA spotted on the array.