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Glycogen, molecular biology grade


Glycogen is an inert carrier that increases the recovery of nucleic acids during preciptation.
  
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Thermo Scientific Glycogen is a highly purified polysaccharide derived from oysters. It is an inert carrier which significantly increases the recovery of nucleic acids by alcohol precipitation. Glycogen is insoluble in ethanol and forms a precipitate that traps target nucleic acids. During centrifugation, a visible pellet is formed, which greatly facilitates handling of the precipitated nucleic acids. Glycogen quantitatively precipitates nucleic acids from diluted solutions with a higher efficiency than that of tRNA, linear polyacrylamide, or sonicated DNA (see References 1-4).

We offer two formulations of aqueous glycogen solutions that allow for fast and efficient DNA or RNA recovery:

Glycogen, molecular biology grade, recommended for DNA precipitation (#R0561).

Glycogen, RNA grade, can be used for both RNA and DNA precipitation (#R0551).

Highlights

  • Ideal for high recovery of oligonucleotides (> 8 bases) and low amounts of DNA/RNA (> 20 pg) from diluted solutions
  • Forms clearly visible pellets
  • Does not interfere with enzymatic reactions†
  • Does not interfere with gel electrophoresis of nucleic acids
  • Does not interfere with spectrophotometrical determination of DNA/RNA concentration, (A260 to 280 measurements)
  • Compatible with DNA transformation and in vitro transfection

Footnotes

† At a final concentration up to 8 µg/µL, Glycogen does not interfere with PCR, DNA sequencing, DNA digestion by endonucleases, ligation, cDNA synthesis, DNA labeling, in vitro transcription, or bacterial transformation. At a final concentration up to 0.4 µg/µL, Glycogen does not affect in vitro transfection of eukaryotic cells with ExGen 500 in vitro Transfection Reagent.

  
Storage Condition-20 C
HazardousNo
Molecular Weight
  • Glycogen molecules are highly branched structures, which are composed of thousands of glucose molecules bonded to each other.
  • The molecular weight of the largest individual glycogen molecule appears to be 8 million containing about 50,000 glucose molecules.
Quality Control
  • Absence of endo-, exodeoxyribonucleases, ribonucleases, phosphatases, proteases, and nicking activity confirmed by appropriate quality tests.
  • Glycogen, molecular biology grade, is functionally tested for DNA precipitation.
  • Glycogen, RNA grade, is functionally tested for RNA precipitation.
SourceOysters
Effect of Glycogen on Precipitation of Nucleic Acids

Effect of Glycogen on Precipitation of Nucleic Acids

Effect of Glycogen on Precipitation of Nucleic Acids

Effect of Glycogen on Precipitation of Nucleic Acids.

A 17 nt DNA oligonucleotide was precipitated from 2 pg/µL solution without glycogen and with 1 µg/µL final concentration of Glycogen, molecular biology grade. A 200 bp DNA fragment was precipitated from 50 pg/µL solution without glycogen and with 0.05 µg/µL final concentration of Glycogen, molecular biology grade. 100 nt RNA transcript was precipitated from 50 pg/µL solution, without Glycogen and with 0.05 µg/µL final concentration of Glycogen, RNA grade. All precipitations were performed with 2.5X volumes of ethanol and 0.3 M sodium acetate at room temperature for 5 minutes. The concentration of the nucleic acids was measured spectrophotometrically.


References

  1. S. Tracy, Improved rapid methodology for the isolation of nucleic acids from agarose gels. Prep. Biochem. 11, 251-268 (1981).
  2. C. Helms, A new method for puryfying lambda DNA from phage lysates. DNA. 4, 39-49 (1985).
  3. P. N. Hengen, Methods and reagents – Carriers for precipitating nucleic acids. TIBS. 21, 224-225 (1996).
  4. J. Sambrook, D. W. Russell, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, the Third edition (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, A8.12-8.13, 2001).