Biochemical Techniques and Instrumentation

2.2.2.2. Agarose gels

2.2.2.2. Agarose

Agarose gels are popular gel materials available in beaded form. They consist of a polysaccharide, agar with D-galactose and 3,6 anhydro L-galactose units and commercially available as Bio-Gel A, Ultragel and Sepharose. These gel materials are hydrophilic but have no charged groups. They are compatible with cell aqueous buffers and stable at pH 4-10. They are more rigid than dextran gels. They allow separation of high molecular weight molecules and subcellular fractions. They are mostly used to study viruses, nucleic acids, polysacharrides and membrane proteins.They are supplied as dense suspension of beads incorporated with preservative, 0.2% sodium azide. The fractionation ranges of agarose based gels are given in Table 2.3.2.2.