LARGE PARTICLE GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS

For the separation of macromolecules by either size or surface electri cal charge density, gel electrophoresis is a technique used in all are as of biochemistry. For the analogous separation of larger, multimolec ular particles such as viruses, gel electrophoresis has more recently also been found useful. As the radius of a spherical particle exceeds 200 nm during electrophoresis, a phenomenon that defines a larger sphe re occurs: the normally used electrical fields cause large spheres to be sterically trapped in the network of gel. Either pulsed or comparat ively low electrical fields are introduced to either overcome or utili ze trapping during the gel electrophoresis of large particles.