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Reference.org
Alkaline lysis
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<p>Alkaline lysis is the process of isolating plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in bacteria. It is a standard method used in molecular biology to isolate the plasmid without obtaining chromosomal DNA. The first alkaline lysis was performed by Birnom and Doly in 1979. Since then, slight modifications have been made to the procedure to get to today's most widely used approach. The steps of alkaline lysis can be summarized as the formation of a pellet, resuspension of the pellet in solution, cell lysis, <a href="/facts/Neutralization_(chemistry)/WC1c5fj1">neutralization</a>, and <a href="/facts/Centrifugation/q9WkB8T4">centrifugation</a>. Alkaline lysis takes advantage of the small and supercoiled physical composition of plasmid DNA compared to chromosomal DNA, along with its ability to reanneal double stranded DNA when ideal conditions are established. This allows for the isolation of plasmid DNA apart from chromosomal DNA and other cellular components. </p>