New Buffer Enhances DNA Electrophoresis

Researchers have developed a new buffering system that allows DNA electrophoresis to be performed faster and with less distortion of the DNA molecules and at lower cost.

Investigators at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA) sought a buffering system to replace the Tris-acetic acid-disodium EDTA (TAE) and Tris-boric acid-disodium EDTA (TBE) buffers that have been in use since the 1950s. These buffers allow build-up of heat at high voltages that melts and distorts the DNA. "DNA just needs to know it is in a voltage and it will move,” explained senior author Dr. Scott Kern, professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University. "So, the most important feature of a solution in electrophoresis is its ability to carry a voltage.”

The investigators reported in the February 2004 issue of BioTechniques that evaluation of many possible candidates had led to the selection of a buffer based on sodium boric acid. Gels run with this buffer could be resolved in one-sixth the time required by the old TAE and TBE systems. Moreover, the cost per gel of sodium boric acid is U.S.$0.07 as compared with TAE $0.27 and TBE $0.67. In the United States alone this would save the biotechnology industry nearly $37 million annually.





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