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Irreversible trapping of DNA during crossed‐field gel electrophoresis
Author(s) -
Viovy JeanLouis,
Miomandre Fabien,
Miquel MarieCecile,
Caron François,
Sor Frédéric
Publication year - 1992
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.1150130102
Subject(s) - trapping , electrophoresis , agarose , field (mathematics) , gel electrophoresis of nucleic acids , gel electrophoresis , electric field , agarose gel electrophoresis , chemistry , pulsed field gel electrophoresis , molecular physics , dna , analytical chemistry (journal) , physics , chromatography , biology , ecology , biochemistry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , gene , genotype , pure mathematics
Using an original protocol with a rotating gel electrophoresis apparatus, it is shown that duplex DNA undergoing crossed‐field electrophoresis in agarose gets trapped in the gel when the field is increased above a threshold value which decreases with the chain length and depends on the angle between the fields in a non‐monotonous manner. This trapping is irreversible, i.e. once trapped at a high field strength, chains are unable to resume their motion when the field is returned to a lower value at which they moved prior to trapping. A model of trapping by “tight knots” is proposed. It predicts a trapping threshold proportional to the inverse square of the electric field, in qualitative agreement with the data. The implications of our results for the separation of large DNA molecules are discussed.