Monitoring of DNA Replication and DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE)

Abstract

Separating DNA fragments using standard agarose gel electrophoresis is based on the capacity of negatively charged DNA molecules to move through the agarose gel matrix toward the positive electrode. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is an agarose gel electrophoresis technique that enables the separation of DNA molecules at a megabase scale, making the direct genomic analysis of large DNA molecules possible. For instance, 16 chromosomes (size range; 0.2–2.2 Mb) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whose karyotype cannot be easily observed with a microscope, can be directly separated on agarose gel. PFGE is also a powerful analytical tool for chromosomal mapping and genome structure analysis in bacterial and mammalian cells. In this chapter, we will describe the preparation of intact yeast chromosomal DNA for PFGE and general PFGE procedures and will introduce a PFGE method to monitor the DNA replication fork progression and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs).