Will Contamination by Agar Affect PCR?

[macpat]

I'm growng cyanobacteria on agar plates using BG11₀ media. Does anyone know of a specific protocol for DNA extraction when using agar? Will contamination by agar inhibit or affect the PCR or DNA extraction at all? References?

[CharonY]

There is usually no reason to have large amounts of agar in your final template. What is normally done is you pick up as much cells as needed from the plates (glass rod, pipettor, loops etc.) and resuspend the cells in a buffer. Depending on required purity either just lyse them and use the raw lysate or purify them with conventional protocols.