Linking electrophoretic resolution with experimental conditions

John Clark Sutherland

doi:10.1117/12.274367

22 May 1997 Linking electrophoretic resolution with experimental conditions

John Clark Sutherland

Proceedings Volume 2985, Ultrasensitive Biochemical Diagnostics II; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.274367
Event: BiOS '97, Part of Photonics West, 1997, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Previously, we described a quantitative measure of electrophoretic resolution called resolving power that can be computed for individual bands of DNA separated by electrophoresis. An alternate approach is to determined analytical functions, based on a few experimentally determined parameters, that describe the resolving power of a particular electrophoretic system for al of the length classes of resolving power of a particular electrophoretic system for all of the length classes of molecules that are separated. Such analytical functions have been obtained for single-stranded DNA separated in a polyacrylamide gel and detected at a fixed distance from the origin of electrophoresis. Six experimentally determined constants are required to describe the analytical function for resolving power in this system: four constants describe the mobility of DNA in the gel as a function of molecular length, and two describe the width of the bands as a function of the length of molecular length. One of our goals is to develop systematic methods of improving the resolving power of longer molecules, and hence extending the number of bases that can be determined in a single sequencing experiment. Our approach is to determine how the small number of parameters that describe resolving power depend on experimentally controllably conditions. Knowing such relationships should permit systematic selection of combinations of experimental conditions that improve resolving power. Here, we show the relationship between the four parameters describing DNA mobility as a function of molecular length for systematic variations of gel composition and electric field strength. The data set employed is for double-stranded DNA separated in agarose gels, but the principles are similar to those encountered in DNA sequencing studies.

Citation Download Citation

John Clark Sutherland "Linking electrophoretic resolution with experimental conditions", Proc. SPIE 2985, Ultrasensitive Biochemical Diagnostics II, (22 May 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.274367

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available