Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi all,

It's as the title says - how would I Southern blot to find telomere lengths in the most efficient way possible without it being too costly? I am planning to use yeast cells.

Celina

Hi Celina,

Unless you have access to a lab that has equipment to run restriction enzyme-digested DNA fragments on agarose gels, transfer them to blotting membrane, hybridize the blots with telomere-specific probes and visualize the DNA bands by some method, you would not be able to use Southern blotting to determine telomere length. All the methods I am familiar with require fairly expensive equipment and reagents and specialized training to do the procedure.

Are you working in a lab that is set up to do Southern blots? Do you have a tech to help you do the experiments?

Let me know a little more about your situation and I will be better able to help.

Sybee