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Improved silver staining of plant proteins, RNA and DNA in polyacrylamide gels
Author(s) -
Blum Helmut,
Beier Hildburg,
Gross Hans J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.1150080203
Subject(s) - staining , silver stain , rna , dna , polyacrylamide , tobacco mosaic virus , polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis , chemistry , protein detection , gel electrophoresis , protoplast , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , virus , materials science , gene , nanotechnology , virology , genetics , enzyme
A new modification of silver staining is presented which utilizes two chemical properties of thiosulfate: image enhancement by pretreatment of fixed gels, and formation of soluble silver complexes which prevents unspecific background staining during image development. This procedure provides high sensitivity for proteins, RNA and DNA in the nanogram range on a colorless, transparent background. The performance of this method is documented by staining one‐and two‐dimensional patterns of plant leaf proteins. Moreover, we achieved, for the first time, the detection of the non‐structural, tobacco mosaic virus‐specific 126 kDa protein directly in the one‐dimensional protein pattern of infected protoplasts by a staining procedure.