Inhibition of DNAse activity in PFGE analysis of DNA from Campylobacter jejuni

Abstract
DNAse-positive strains of Campylobacter jejuni degrade their chromosomal DNA during standard preparative procedures before pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). A simple method for inactivation of this DNAse activity is described. Formaldehyde fixation of the bacterial cells resulted in the preservation of the DNA in a state suitable for restriction digestion and subsequent electrophoretic analysis.