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.
Keywords: Agarose gel, DNA, Nucleic acids, Negative charge, RNA.
