H2 Biology Gel Electrophoresis Practical: Micropipetting, Agarose Gels and Band Interpretation

Q: What does gel electrophoresis test in H2 Biology practical work?
A: It tests whether you understand how DNA fragments are separated by size, and whether you can handle micropipetting, gel loading, ladder interpretation, and evaluation of band quality.

TL;DR
Gel electrophoresis separates DNA fragments by size in an agarose gel. DNA moves toward the positive electrode, and smaller fragments usually travel further through the gel. In Paper 4 style questions, the marks often come from clean micropipetting, correct well loading, use of a DNA ladder, and explaining smearing, faint bands, overloaded wells, or reversed polarity.

Concrete example: If lane 3 has a band at the same height as the 500 bp ladder band, estimate that fragment as about 500 bp, then check whether the lane was loaded cleanly before drawing a conclusion.

Use this with H2 Biology Core 2 Genetics and Inheritance, H2 Biology practical lab mastery, and H2 Biology Paper 4 practical performance