NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Page 118

Snake DNA Diversity by Short Tandem Repeat (STR) marker Isolation and
Sequencing
Timothy brooks-kinder
University of Nottingham

Abstract
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) was extracted from ten different snake subspecies of which
mostly were python. Fourteen short tandem repeat (STR) marker primers were added to
each snake DNA sample and amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to be then
run on a 3% agarose gel, bands from the agarose gels were then isolated and the DNA
purified in sterile water to be sent for sequencing at the University of Birmingham. The
purpose of identifying diversity of STR markers by polymorphism of the snakes is shown
with changes of the sequences. Sequencing was shown to be a failure mainly due to
contamination from the purification of DNA following extraction of the agarose gels, leading
to an inconclusive reason of diversity in STR markers of the snakes.
Key words:
>STR, Polymorphism, Diversity, DNA sequencing, Python, Snakes.