Measurement of electrophoretic mobility of dye-labeled large DNA fragments in agarose gels by movement of fluorescence pattern after photobleaching

Movement of fluorescence pattern after photobleaching: an accelerated procedure for DNA electrophoretic mobility analysis

A new approach which is compatible with many of the existing procedures for the analysis of DNA species in gel electrophoresis is being demonstrated. It takes advantage of fluorescence photobleaching in order to create a sharp boundary between the stained and the (partially) photobleached DNA. By arbitrarily creating a stained DNA band of narrower width, the sensitivity to detect (averaged) DNA band movements has been increased. This feature permits measurements of time-dependent electrophoretic mobility over very short time periods. The approach can be used to shorten the running time of gel electrophoresis experiment and to increase the resolution because of the sharper boundary and narrower band width. With faster running time, diffusion of both DNA and dye in the gel also becomes less serious. Movement of fluorescence pattern after photobleaching also permits measurements of localized motions when the gel pores are small in comparison with DNA sizes. Experiments demonstrating some aspects of the proposed technique, as well as the anticipated limitations, are presented and discussed.

Study of large DNA fragments in agarose gels by transient electric birefringence

The pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFG) is a newly developing technique used in the fractionation of large DNA fragments. Advances in PFG demand a better understanding in the corresponding mechanisms of DNA dynamics in the gel network. Detailed experiments are needed to verify and to extend existing theoretical predictions as well as to find optimum conditions for efficient separation of large DNA fragments. In the present study, deformation of large DNA fragments (40-70 kilobase pairs) imbedded in agarose gels were investigated by using the transient electric birefringence (TEB) technique under both singular polarity and bipolarity electric pulses at low applied electric field strengths (E less than or equal to 5 V/cm). The steady-state optical retardation (delta s) of DNA molecules is linearly proportional to E2. At a given E, the amplitude of optical retardation [delta(t)] increases monotonically with the pulse width (PW) and then reaches a plateau value [delta(t = 0) = delta s] where t = 0 denotes the time when the applied field is turned off or reversed. The field-free decay time (tau-a few minutes) is several orders of magnitudes slower than that from previous TEB observations using high electric field strengths (E-kV/cm) and short pulse widths (PW-ms). The degree of deformation (stretching and orientation) and the time of restoration to the equilibrium conformation of overall DNA chains have been related to delta and tau. In field inversion measurements, exponentially rising and linearly falling of birefringence signals in the presence of forward/inverse applied fields were observed. The rising and falling of birefringence signals were reproducible under a sequence of alternating pulses. Comparison of our results with literature findings and discussions with theories are presented.

Electrophoresis and movements of fluorescence pattern after photobleaching of large DNA fragments in agarose gels

By combining electrophoresis with movements of fluorescence pattern after photobleaching (MOFPAP), which is abbreviated as EMOFPAP, we are able to measure electrophoretic mobilities of large DNA fragments in an agarose gel within a fairly short time scale (about 10 min or even down to 1 min). The new method represents a significant improvement in experiment time when compared with the time (typically on the order of hours) required to determine the average electrophoretic mobility of large DNA fragments in agarose gels by means of either conventional gel electrophoresis or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. In this article, we present the EMOFPAP experimental setup and consider optical conditions, including beam profile geometry and fluorescence pattern formation. A realistic formula that can explain the parameters governing the EMOFPAP method using our present optical setup has been derived. A comparison of results between experimental and computer simulation data is made, and an optimization of the EMOFPAP method is proposed.