The Ideal Agarose Gel Electrophoresis Solution – Remarkable Stability of the GES Systems

Introduction

Agarose gel electrophoresis has long been established as the technique to separate nucleic acid molecules based on size, charge, and structure. The nucleic acid samples are loaded into wells of an agarose gel, which is submerged in an electrophoresis unit containing buffe. When applying the electric current, due to the net negative charge of the molecules, the molecules migrate towards the anode. Separation is achieved within the gel matrix as larger nucleic acid molecules migrate slowly and remain near the cathode, while smaller molecules experience less resistance within the gel and migrate towards the anode.

Agarose gel systems can be used to separate DNA and RNA for quick screening applications such as PCR amplification detection, enzyme digestion or size determination. The GES systems are the standard agarose gel electrophoresis units that allow users to perform submerged agarose gel electrophoresis in the combination of the ELITE power supply. The direct approach to examine the performance of a horizontal electrophoresis system is to test it with PCR amplification detection. In our previous publication Excellent Thermal Uniformity Showcase of the SEDI Thermal Cycler, the single PCR product used in the SEDI thermal cycler testing was also used to show the stability of the GES systems, which are the combination of GES agarose gel electrophoresis unit and ELITE power supply

Material and methods

Single PCR Product Assay

The plasmid DNA PCR reaction mixes were prepared with the PCR mix for 20 μl reaction volume. For the PCR condition in the 20 μl reaction volume, 0.4 ng of the plasmid DNA pFLAG-mLRH-1, 0.125 μM of primers, 1× PCR mix (Solgent), and ultrapure water were all mixed together to a 1000 ul final mixture solution on the day of use. The final mixture solution was then aliquoted to 28 reaction tubes and placed in the SEDI thermal cycler as illustrated in Figure 1. The PCR condition was performed in the SEDI thermal cycler detailed in Table 1. The PCR products were separated through 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis in 1× TAE buffer using the GES agarose gel electrophoresis unit and ELITE 600 power supply and then stained in ethidium bromide. The electrophoresis results were captured by the KETA M imaging system.

Results

Agarose gel electrophoresis results

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Figure 2 The single PCR product amplification detection from different SEDI thermal cyclers using the GES systems

Discussion

Agarose Gel System Stability

In our routine testing of the SEDI thermal cycler, the GES systems had demonstrated its excellent stability and durability. In group A-E from Figure 2, the electrophoresis results from different SEDI thermal cyclers revealed reproducibility in the agarose gel images. Often times the lanes and bands may be distorted due to the unstable mobility of the nucleic acid molecules in the gel matrix. The ELITE power supplies in the GES systems provide high accuracy and high efficiency of the direct current to the electrophoresis systems. The gel casting tools provided by the GES units offered leakage-free and tear-free Dams-Claws design. As long as the casting tray was leveled, the tools ensured you that the agarose gel would be casted evenly. As a result, the single PCR products will all be sieved through the gel matrix with minimal resistance shift, thus yield clean PCR results as shown here.

Conclusion

The GES agarose gel electrophoresis systems has demonstrated its remarkable stability in our routine PCR amplification detection testing. Thanks to the highly stable ELITE power supply and excellent gel casting tools provided with the GES units, the GES systems have been the number one choice for its remarkable performance.

Ordering information

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