HORIZONTAL ULTRATHIN-LAYER MULTI-ZONAL ELECTROPHORESIS OF DNA - AN EFFICIENT TOOL FOR LARGE-SCALE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (PCR) FRAGMENT ANALYSIS

A rapid and efficient procedure for large-scale analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragments in the range of 200-3000 base pairs is presented. The procedure is based on horizontal ultrathin-layer multi -zonal (HUME) electrophoresis of PCR fragments in polyacrylamide gels followed by silver staining. HUME gels can be prepared rapidly using a simple procedure called the flap technique. The electrophoretic set-u p allows the use of multi-channel pipettes for sample loading. Separat ion and detection of the PCR fragments from sample preparation to silv er staining can be carried out in 2 h. Using four electrophoresis unit s, one technician can analyze 400 PCR fragment samples in 2 h.