Streaking of SDS-PAGE samples

[Darren Tyson]

Scott McMahan wrote:
> 
> I was having problems recently with the samples of my Tris-Tricine
> SDS-PAGE/Westerns streaking vertically.  After checking the usual suspects
> (old sample buffer, precipitated sample, etc.)  I found a few protocol
> books mentioning that turning the current down sometimes helps this
> problem.  When I did that, it did drastically decrease the streaking, but
> really increased the running time.  I was wondering if anyone knew what
> phenomenon is causing this streaking, and is there some other way of
> correcting it so I can run my gels faster again.
> 
> --
>                                          Scott McMahan
>                                          mcmahan at oncology.wisc.edu


Scott,

In my samples the cause of streaking (the majority of the time) appears
to be excess unfragmented DNA.  To fix this I sonicate and boil samples
longer before loading on the gel.

Cheers,

Darren
-- 
Darren Tyson
Ph.D. Candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology
Saint Louis University
tysondr at slu.edu or darren at primary.net
http://www.scimart.com/darren/