Qualitative Tests for Nucleic Acid Detection

Qualitative tests of nucleic acids are important to detect the presence or absence of nucleic acid in the given sample. It can be done by performing agarose gel electrophoresis. Nucleic acids are negatively charged and hence can be attracted towards a positive charge in an electric field. This phenomenon is used in agarose gel electrophoresis to detect nucleic acids. Based on the mass of nucleic acids, different bands are formed in the gel, which can be visualized using fluorescent dyes.