A mini-screen technique for analyzing nuclear DNA from a single Dictyostelium colony

The cellular Dictyostelium slime molds have been found to carry a number of different multi-copy, circular, nuclear plasmids. In order to facilitate the screening of wild isolates for endogenous plasmids, and of transformants for the presence of extrachromosomal or integrated vector sequences the authors have developed a rapid and reliable mini-screening technique which allows sufficient plasmid or total nuclear DNA to be obtained from a single 2 cm diameter colony of Dictyostelium , and eliminates many of the extraneous bands seen with lysis-in-the-gel procedures.