Site-directed mutagenesis:



by inverse PCR with Pfu polymerase and DpnI

  • design a primer1 with the mutated or additional nucleotides in the middle flanked by 15 to 18 nt on both sides. Primer 2 is the reverse complement of primer 1

  • set up following three PCR reaction with increasing amounts of template DNA (each 50 µl)
  • template plasmid (1/10/50 ng) primer 1 (0,5 µM final)
    primer 2 (0,5 µM final)
    dNTP mix (each 0,2 µM final)
    Pfu DNA polymerase (2,5 U)
  • run a programme with 15-20 cycles, 1min per kb at 68ºC, annelling temperature 55-60°C

  • perform a buffer exchange with spin columns (Sephacryl 200) or add 10 µg tRNA, extract with phenol/chloroform and precipitate with ethanol, dissolve in 50 µl water

  • digest with DpnI (1-4 h, 10 U). DpnI endonuclease is specific for methylated DNA (template plasmid), but does not digest the DNA synthesised during the PCR.

  • extract with phenol/chloroform, precipitate with ethanol, add tRNA if necessary

  • transform E. coli by electroporation, plate 100%

  • checks clones by minipreps and sequence 10 clones