Question

If the antibody (or its gene) had a negative charge associated with it, how would you show that either the gene was present in the bacterium or that the protein was produced?

Answer 1

Proteins are the monomer of amino acid and Gene (DNA) are the made up of nucleotide respectively. They are both sensitive to degradation by various enzyme Proteases and DNase respectively. If the antibody (or its gene) had negative charge associated with it, we can use different technique whether it was the gene or protein that was produce.

First isolate the sample. Treating the sample with protease or DNase followed by gel electrophoresis (GE) to analyse the band. If the sample was protein, upon treating with protease it degrade and we can have multiple band on GE while the Dnase doesnot able to degrade the protein so single band obtain. Another we can use Spectrophometric analysis to determine the protein or DNA as both give absorbance at different wavelength. Protein gives the characterstic absorbance at 280nm while DNA at 260nm.