Pseudopneumo

Dear all

I am wondering if anyone has experience in extracting prokaryotic genomic DNA (gDNA) from filters using a commercially available kit.

We have started trying to extract gDNA from air samples collected onto filters, using the PowerSoil kit from Mo Bio Laboratories, but have not had much luck; there was no sign of DNA as suggested on the NanoDrop.

Has any of you used modifications of this kit, or have used other kits to acquire gDNA? I have a feeling it is the low amount of microorganisms collected on the filters, but I am new to this project, and would like to just hear about different opinions regarding this issue.

Thank you very much.

Dear all

We had an ABI 3130 sequence analyzer, and I was just wondering how do the different capillary lengths (36cm and 50cm) differ? Do they have anything to do with the read lengths?

Thanks

I know this topic has been posted already, and I apologize in advance for the self-absorption of this post, but....

My PhD viva is coming up in about 3 weeks...I am completely freaking out. I have two supervisors. One I could not really depend on as much basically throughout my PhD years (because he had been giving me outright wrong facts and suggestions basically on every aspect from scientific knowledge to administrative paperwork, etc), and he did not read my thesis. The other is a very respected figure in his field and has much experience in PhD students. He single-handedly helped on providing valuable comments on my thesis and is very pleased with the final product and thinks I would have no problem. He also said because I had some publications I have nothing to worry about.

However, I am worried about not bring able to elaborate some of the points in the thesis, mostly introduction chapter where the beginning sections have little to do with my main focus. I freak about examiners asking me specific references that I now find so hard to absorb.

I suppose I just would like some encouragements and guidance as to how to cope during this time. I feel awful and hopeless

Thank you so much for listening.

Cheers

Dear all

I hope this question may not come across as unintelligent. I was just wondering how does one, from a multiple sequence alignment, differentiate mutational hotspots or recombination from a region with polymorphisms, besides GC%?

My guess is that in a mutational hotspot the region of mutational events would be distributed across different sequences of the alignment, whereas a recombinational event would usually only apply to say one or two sequences of the entire alignment.

Would anyone like to add or elaborate on this concept?


Thank you very much