miniPCR bio
TM
Dye Electrophoresis Lab: Molecular Rainbow - Student's Guide
Version: 1.0 - Release: April 2022 - © 2022 by miniPCR bio™
Student's Guide
P./21
Size:
6. Let's focus on the negatively charged dyes. If you assume all the molecules have the same net
charge, which color band(s) in the gel seem to be made up of the smallest molecules? Explain
how you can tell.
7. If you assume all the negatively charged molecules have the same net charge, which color
band(s) in the gel seem to be made up of the largest molecules? Explain how you can tell.
Critical thinking
8. Were the same types of molecules present in more than one sample? Explain how you can tell.
9. In questions 6 and 7 above, you were asked to assume the molecules you were comparing had
the same net charge. Imagine you run another gel where one sample contains pink molecules
and the other sample contains teal molecules. The pink and teal molecules are the same shape
and size, but the pink molecules have a net charge of +3 while the teal molecules have a net
charge of +1.
A. Use the image on the right to draw the expected results from
this experiment.
B. In the gel you ran, all of the molecules had a similar net charge.
Why was that important for interpreting the relative size of the
molecules? Use the example given here in your answer.
