Biochemical Techniques and Instrumentation

Southern Blotting Technique

Southern blotting was named after Edward M. Southern who developed this procedure at Edinburgh University in the 1970s. The DNA molecules are transferred from an agarose gel onto a membrane. Southern blotting is designed to locate a particular sequence of DNA within a complex mixture. The amount of DNA needed for this technique is dependent on the size and specific activity of the probe. Short probes tend to be more specific. Under optimal conditions, we can detect 0.1 mg of the DNA.