Isoelectric focusing in the vegetable seed industry

The terminator: a device for high-throughput extraction of plant material

The Terminator is a device for cost-efficient high-throughput homogenization of plant material and sample preparation. Protein and DNA samples can easily be prepared from large numbers of crude material for further analysis such as protein electrophoresis or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by DNA electrophoresis. The functioning of the device is based on vibration of 96 stainless steel pegs in wells of a standard 96-well micro plate. Using the Terminator all types of plant tissue, including seeds, can be homogenized in standard micro plates in 3 min.

Ultrasensitive fluorescence protein detection in isoelectric focusing gels using a ruthenium metal chelate stain

SYPRO Ruby IEF Protein Gel Stain is an ultrasensitive, luminescent stain optimized for the analysis of protein in isoelectric focusing gels. Proteins are stained in a ruthenium-containing metal complex overnight and then rinsed in distilled water for 2 h. Stained proteins can be excited by ultraviolet light of about 302 nm (UV-B transilluminator) or with visible light of about 470 nm. Fluorescence emission of the dye is maximal at approximately 610 nm. The sensitivity of the SYPRO Ruby IEF protein gel stain is superior to colloidal Coomassie blue stain and the highest sensitivity silver staining procedures available. The SYPRO Ruby IEF protein gel stain is suitable for staining proteins in nondenaturing or denaturing carrier ampholyte isoelectric focusing and immobilized pH gradient gel electrophoresis. The stain is compatible with N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide or piperazine diacylamide cross-linked polyacrylamide gels as well as with agarose gels and high tensile strength Duracryl gels. The stain does not contain extraneous chemicals (formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, Tween-20) that frequently interfere with peptide identification in mass spectrometry. Successful identification of stained proteins by peptide mass profiling is demonstrated.