Quantitative gel electrophoresis of polystyrene particles with 20-60 nm radii on 30% crosslinked polyacrylamide gel

pK-matched running buffers for gel electrophoresis

Electrophoresis through agarose and polyacrylamide-type gels is the standard method to separate, identify, and purify nucleic acids. Properties of electrophoresis buffers such as pH, ionic strength, and composition affect performance. The buffers in use contain a weak acid or weak base buffered by a compound with a dissimilar pK. Herein, three pK-matched buffers were developed, each containing two effective buffering components: one weak base and one weak acid which have similar pKa at 25 degrees C (within 0.3 pK units): (i) Ethanolamine/Capso, pH 9.6; (ii) triethanolamine/Tricine, pH 7.9; and (iii) Bis-Tris/Aces, pH 6.7. On agarose gels, the buffers in various concentrations were tested for separation of double-stranded DNA fragments with various DNA markers, agarose gel concentrations, and field strengths. Mobility was inversely proportional to the logarithm of molecular weight. The buffers provided high resolution without smearing at more dilute concentration than is possible with standard TAE (Tris/acetate, pH 8.0) or TBE (Tris/borate, pH 8.3) buffers. The buffers were also tested in 7 M urea denaturing LongRanger sequencing gels and in nondenaturing polyacrylamide SSCP gels. The pK-matched buffers provide good separation and high resolution, at a broad range of potential pH values. In comparison to TAE and TBE, pK-matched buffers provide higher voltage and current stability, lower working concentration, more concentrated stock solutions (up to 200x), and lower current per unit voltage, resulting in less heat generation.

Sieving of ionic constituents across moving boundaries in gel electrophoresis

The representative beta-hydroxyethylmorpholinium-chloride-bicinate moving boundary with a trailing ion net mobility relative to Na+ of 0.41, detected by precipitation of chloride with silver nitrate, exhibits a decreasing chloride mobility at increasing polyacrylamide gel concentrations from 3.5 to 45%T, 5%CBis. This decrease, largely due to an increase of field strength at constant current, is described by a convex* plot of log (mobility) vs. %T (Ferguson plot) and signifies that chloride/bicinate are sieved by the gel. In agarose gels, the same plot of mobility vs. gel concentration is constant below 7% gel concentration, since in those gels field strength and migration rate remain the same within that gel concentration range. Both in polyacrylamide and in agarose gels the displacement rate of the chloride-bicinate boundary as a function of the time of electrophoresis or distance migrated remains invariant within 15%. The plot of log (mobility) vs. gel concentration extrapolated to 0%T is 5.85 and 5.41 (10(-5) cm2s-1V-1) for polyacrylamide and for agarose (SeaKem HGT-P,FMC) gels, respectively. The slightly decreased mobility intercept at 0%T for agarose is presumably due either to the electroendosmotic properties of agarose HGT-P and/or failure to Sufficiently take into account the flattening of the Ferguson plot in the polyacrylamide concentration range below 3% in which a transition from a gel to a fluid (sol) medium takes place.

Ferguson plots based on absolute mobilities in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: dependence of linearity of polymerization conditions and application to the determination of free mobility

In contrast to Ferguson plots based on relative mobilities, Ferguson plots of proteins in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis based on their absolute mobilities were found to be linear under unusual polymerization conditions which yield relatively wide gel fibers and a low total fiber length per unit weight, but not under previously and commonly used conditions. These linear Ferguson plots in gels of 1, 3 and 5% crosslinking intersect at a single gel concentration between 1 and 2% T (M-point). It is postulated that the measure of free mobility of the proteins is the M-point, and not the intercept of their Ferguson plots with the mobility axis as assumed previously. This postulate abolishes the well-known paradoxical interpretation of the increase with %C of the linearly extrapolated intercept of the Ferguson plot with the log(mobility) axis (designated Yo) in terms of free mobility. The postulate is also compatible with the interpretation of the points of intersection of the Ferguson plots of oligomeric series of proteins at finite gel concentrations (designated mu-points) as their common free mobilities.

Discontinuous buffer systems optimized for the agarose gel electrophoresis of subcellular particles

Discontinuous buffer systems operative between pH 5.7 and 7.4, 0 degrees C, were generated, which are characterized by more rapidly displaced moving boundaries than applied previously. These allow one to resolve subcellular particles relatively rapidly and at relatively low agarose gel concentrations. A commercial mixture of DNA restriction fragments pre-stained with ethidium bromide was found to be a suitable tracking dye for these boundaries.