BIOTECHNOLOGY

• Guppies have live birth and have a lot of babies, but they also eat their babies
• Genetic material


  DNA found in body cells
• Biotechnology


  The merge of biology and technology, including topics such as PCR, cloning, and genetic engineering
• Gel electrophoresis


  A biotechnology that can separate molecules based on their size, especially useful for DNA
• DNA


  • Has a negative charge due to the phosphates in the nucleotides
  • Can be cut into pieces by restriction enzymes
• Gel electrophoresis


  1. DNA samples are loaded into wells

  2. DNA moves towards the positive side of the gel

  3. Longer DNA pieces move slower than shorter pieces

  4. DNA bands are visualised by staining the gel and viewing under UV light
• Comparing DNA bands of mother and offspring guppies

  Can indicate the likelihood of the mother-offspring relationship
• DNA ladder


  A sample with known fragment sizes used as a reference in gel electrophoresis
• Gel electrophoresis is used in determining relatedness between species and in DNA fingerprinting
• The results from gel electrophoresis can be used to isolate genes of interest through southern blotting