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A user‐friendly alternative to formaldehyde‐based DNA silver‐staining method on polyacrylamide gels
Author(s) -
He HongZhang,
Cong WeiTao,
Jiang ChengXi,
Pu Jie,
You WeiJing,
Gao HongChang,
Zhu ZhongXin,
Jin LiTai,
Li XiaoKun
Publication year - 2010
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.201000076
Subject(s) - polyacrylamide , staining , formaldehyde , silver stain , dna , environmentally friendly , chemistry , polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis , chromatography , polymer chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , genetics , enzyme , ecology
We have developed a practical, cost‐effective and user‐friendly protocol to meet the needs of nucleic acids research, particularly in respect of DNA detection on polyacrylamide gels. In this method, the most commonly used alkaline formaldehyde developer in DNA silver stain, which does harm to operator, is first replaced by glucose in alkaline borate buffer. In addition, the effects of six reducing sugars on the quality of DNA visualization were investigated. Consequently, the optimal protocol using glucose takes about 45 min to complete all the procedures, with a detection limit of 5 pg of single DNA band on polyacrylamide gels, was developed. The results indicate that this user‐friendly and economic protocol could be a good choice for routine use in DNA visualization on polyacrylamide gels.