Heat mediated quick Coomassie blue protein staining and destaining of SDS-PAGE gels

For the detection of proteins on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Coomassie blue is used commonly on account of its simplic ity and reliability. In this report we show that enhanced heat, in addition to dramatically decreasing the time required for staining and destaining, also significantly increased the detection sensitivity. For a 1.5 mm gel, t he staining time was 5 min at 55, 62.5 or 70 degrees C while the destaining time was 45, 45 and 20 min respectively. For a 0.8 mm gel, the staining ti me could be reduced to 1 min at 65 degrees C compared to 2 min at 60 degree s C and 5 min at 55 degrees C. The destaining time required was 8, 15 and 2 0 min at the respective temperatures.