1. Hydrate 5,000 Units of agarase (Sigma # A6306) in 1 ml of sterile distilled water.

2. Store at -20°C

Prepare PCR products:

1. Electrophorese PCR products in a high grade, low-gelling temperature agarose such as SeaPlaque GTG agarose from Biowhittaker Molecular Applications (Rockland, ME).

2. Cut out the band of interest under UV light eliminating as much excess agarose as possible.

3. Place the gel slice in a 1.5 ml microtube and melt at 65°C for 5-10 min. The volume should be less than 100 µl.

4. Let the gel slice cool about 30 sec. If you go beyond 1-2 min, the gel slice will begin to harden.

5. Add 1.5 µl of diluted agarase per 100 µl of melted gel slice.

6. Incubate at 37-40°C for 1 hour. The incubation can go overnight as well.

7. Cool the sample to room temperature and pipet up and down to make sure sample is liquid in form. If not, then continue the incubation.

8. Store samples at -20°C until they are used. The DNA samples should be quantified before submitting for sequencing; either spectrophotometrically or on an agarose gel containing known standards.