Thermo Scientific Glycogen is a highly purified polysaccharide derived from oysters. It is an inert carrier which significantly increases the recovery of nucleic acids by alcohol precipitation. Glycogen is insoluble in ethanol and forms a precipitate that traps target nucleic acids. During centrifugation, a visible pellet is formed which greatly facilitates handling of the precipitated nucleic acids. Glycogen quantitatively precipitates nucleic acids from diluted solutions with a higher efficiency than that of tRNA, linear polyacrylamide, or sonicated DNA (see References 1-4).

We offer two formulations of aqueous glycogen solutions that allow for fast and efficient DNA or RNA recovery:
• Glycogen, RNA grade, can be used for both RNA and DNA precipitation (#R0551)
• Glycogen, molecular biology grade, recommended for DNA precipitation (#R0561).

Highlights

• Ideal for high recovery of oligonucleotides (> 8 bases) and low amounts of DNA/RNA (> 20 pg) from diluted solutions
• Forms clearly visible pellets
• Does not interfere with enzymatic reactions†
• Does not interfere with gel electrophoresis of nucleic acids
• Does not interfere with spectrophotometrical determination of DNA/RNA concentration, (A_{260 to 280} measurements)
• Compatible with DNA transformation and in vitro transfection

Footnote
† – At a final concentration up to 8 μg/ μL, Glycogen does not interfere with PCR, DNA sequencing, DNA digestion by endonucleases, ligation, cDNA synthesis, DNA labeling, in vitro transcription, or bacterial transformation. At a final concentration up to 0.4 μg/ μL, Glycogen does not affect in vitro transfection of eukaryotic cells.