Research Article
Fast reversible single-step method for enhanced band contrast of polyacrylamide gels for automated detection
Wei-Li Ling, Wai-Heng Lua, Samuel Ken-En Gan
Published:
May 01, 2015
DOI:
10.1002/elps.201500094
License:
© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim2015This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Abstract
Staining SDS-PAGE is commonly used in protein analysis for many downstream characterization processes. Although staining and destaining protocols can be adjusted, they can be laborious, and faint bands often become false negatives. Similarly, these faint bands hinder automated software band detections that are necessary for quantitative analyses. To overcome these problems, we describe a single-step rapid and reversible method to increase (up to 500%) band contrast in stained gels. Through the use of alcohols, we improved band detection and facilitated gel storage by drying the gels into compact white sheets. This method is suitable for all stained SDS-PAGE gels, including gradient gels and is shown to improve automated band detection by enhanced band contrast.