Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of DNAs was investigated with stai
nless steel columns (6 mml.D. x 250 mm) packed with macroporous spheri
cal gels prepared from glucomannan. High molecular weight DNAs (>15kb)
were eluted following size-exclusion theory from the columns packed w
ith large gels (>130 mum). However, the smaller gels resulted in the l
arger elution times for those DNAs. The particle size as well as the p
ore size of the packing material were found to be important factors fo
r chromatographic separation of high molecular weight DNAs.