True or false: In a gel electrophoresis gel, a DNA fragment containing 100 bp (base pairs) would travel faster (and further) than a strand of DNA containing 1000 bp.

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Marlene

Biology

5 April, 10:42

True or false: In a gel electrophoresis gel, a DNA fragment containing 100 bp (base pairs) would travel faster (and further) than a strand of DNA containing 1000 bp.

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Alisa · Answer 1

Answer: true

Explanation: In gel electrophoresis, the smaller the size/molecular weight of DNA the faster it moves across the gel and vise versa. This is as a result of the pore size of the gel which is usually prepared 1g of agarose in 100ml of distilled water. So a DNA fragment with 1000 base pairs will "struggle" its movement across the gel pore making it mive less faster and further. Movement and molecular weight of DNA are inversely proportional.