Home Cell Biology How to Perform Plasmid Prep
Steps
  1. 1 Pellet cells and resuspend in TE buffer 00:33
  2. 2 Lyse cells with denaturing solution 00:42
  3. 3 Renature and precipitate genomic DNA 00:56
  4. 4 Separate plasmid from precipitate 01:10
  5. 5 Precipitate and collect plasmid DNA 01:21
  6. 6 Wash and elute purified plasmid 01:33
  7. 7 Improve purity with optional treatments 01:47
  8. 8 Quantitate the purified plasmid DNA 02:10
Cell Biology Promega Corporation

How to Perform Plasmid Prep

Protocol
Difficulty
intermediate

Steps

1
Pellet cells and resuspend in TE buffer

Centrifuge the overnight bacterial culture to pellet the cells. Remove the supernatant and resuspend the cell pellet in TE buffer.

▶ 00:33
2
Lyse cells with denaturing solution

Add a denaturing solution to raise the pH and lyse the cells, releasing their contents into solution.

▶ 00:42
3
Renature and precipitate genomic DNA

Add renaturing solution to lower the pH, causing proteins and genomic DNA to precipitate while leaving plasmid DNA in suspension.

▶ 00:56
4
Separate plasmid from precipitate

Centrifuge the sample to pellet proteins and genomic DNA. Transfer the supernatant containing plasmid DNA to a new tube.

▶ 01:10
5
Precipitate and collect plasmid DNA

Add ethanol to precipitate the plasmid DNA, then either centrifuge to pellet it or transfer the sample to a DNA-binding column.

▶ 01:21
6
Wash and elute purified plasmid

Wash the pellet or column with 70% ethanol to remove salts and contaminants. Elute or resuspend the DNA using water or neutral buffer.

▶ 01:33
7
Improve purity with optional treatments

Optionally enhance plasmid purity by adding RNase A after lysis or performing a phenol-chloroform extraction to remove remaining contaminants.

▶ 01:47
8
Quantitate the purified plasmid DNA

Measure the concentration and purity of the final plasmid DNA solution before proceeding to downstream applications or assays.

▶ 02:10

🚨 Failure Case Library (1) + Submit your own case

severe
Mini-prep yields almost no plasmid DNA
Eluate DNA concentration is very low; diagnostic digest and gel show no detectable target band.
💡 4 · ✓ 4
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