Simple production of micro-agarose gel electrophoresis tank

Abstract <br>The use of plexiglass plates and other materials to produce a low-cost micro-agarose gel electrophoresis tank. After trial use, it has the advantages of simple operation, safe use and reagent saving, which can meet the needs of teaching and scientific research.

Agarose gel electrophoresis is an indispensable tool in nucleic acid research and plays an important role in the teaching and research of biochemistry and molecular biology. Although the production principle of the agarose gel electrophoresis tank is simple, the agarose gel electrophoresis tank on the market is expensive because of the complicated manufacturing process of the agarose gel electrophoresis tank comb and the high price of the platinum electrode. .

The author of this paper studied the agarose gel electrophoresis technology and completed the improvement of the micro-agarose gel electrophoresis tank. The agarose gel electrophoresis tank has the advantages of low cost, rapid detection, safe use, reagent saving, and clear electrophoresis bands, which can meet the needs of biochemical and molecular biology teaching experiments, and has been studied in nuclease digestion. Get further application.

1 Production method

The agarose gel electrophoresis tank is divided into four parts: the preparation of the electrophoresis tank; the production of the glue tank; the production of the comb and the production of the lid. The number of plastic tanks and combs can be increased or decreased according to the actual work requirements in terms of quantity and specifications, so as to facilitate the experimental operation.

1.1 Production of electrophoresis tank

Select a transparent plexiglass box or plastic box, the size is preferably 120mm × lO0mm × 50mm. Insert a hole in the hole on the same side of the box, and fix a thin copper wire with tape at both ends (the tape only fixes the copper wire at the corner of the box), which is made into agarose gel. Electrophoresis tank. see picture 1.

1.2 Production of glue tank

A transparent transparent plexiglass plate of 2 3 thick is taken, heated on the heating wire, and folded into a "u" shape to form a glue groove. The height of the plates on both sides of the glue tank is preferably 20-25 mm. The spacing should be slightly smaller than the electrophoresis tank; the length of the glue tank is about 70-90 mm. see picture 1.

1, 3 production of dice

Make an “L-shaped top cover with plexiglass, and punch holes in the corresponding positions of the electrode sockets, install the electrode plugs, and fix the plugs on the reverse plate of the upper cover. See Figure 2.

1.4 Production of combs

A transparent plexiglass plate of suitable thickness (1-2 m) is selected and cut into narrow strips of (3-5) mm×30 mm for the production of comb teeth. The edges of the narrow strips should be smooth. So that the prepared sample holes are relatively neat. Take two lO0mm×15mm plexiglass plates, which are respectively folded into “L′, shape (length lOOmm, side width 5mm, width on the other side 10mm). The two pieces are folded into “L” shape plexiglass plate 5mm wide one Opposite the side, spanning the glue making groove, and lining the plexiglass sheet with a thickness of 1-1.5zr~m on the bottom surface of the glue-making tank, and fixing the prepared narrow strips in parallel to the two at a distance of 2-3mm. The L"-shaped slats are 5mm wide and the lower ends of the narrow strips should be neatly placed on the backing plate. (Note: the narrow strips on both sides should be kept at a distance of 2-3 mm from the glue making groove.) Fix with chloroform.

2 How to use

(1) Seal both ends of the glue tank with tape, and check whether it is sealed with pure water;

(2) Put the comb in the right place;

(3) adding the prepared agarose to form a gel;

(4) Remove the comb and tape and place the glue tank into the electrophoresis tank:

(5) slowly add the electrophoresis buffer on one side until the liquid level is higher than the rubber surface by 1 mm;

(6) Turn on the power, electrophoresis at 100-150V, and detect and observe the electrophoresis result after 20 minutes.

3 Electrophoresis tank performance

The agarose gel electrophoresis tank prepared by the method has the following advantages:

(1) Low cost. The total cost is about 10-20 yuan, which is 1/20 of that of similar market products.

(2) It can save the amount of electrophoresis buffer, only need about 160mL at a time.

(3) The electrophoresis detection is rapid, and the detection result can be obtained by using 100-150V voltage for 20 minutes.

(4) The components of the electrophoresis tank can be used interchangeably for easy maintenance.

(5) The comb position can be adjusted at will and it is convenient to use.

(6) The gel is convenient to take out and can be directly tested in the glue making tank.

(7) When the lid of the electrophoresis tank is opened, the power is automatically turned off to ensure safety.

4 applications

The device has been tested in biochemical experiments and molecular biology experiments, in the experimental detection of plasmid DNA separation detection, DNA digestion fragment electrophoresis detection, ligase junction detection, recombinant plasmid detection. Both have achieved good experimental results. The usual agarose gel electrophoresis tank often uses a relatively expensive platinum wire electrode in the production. The device uses copper wire instead of platinum wire to meet the experimental needs. And can greatly reduce costs. However, it should be noted that the copper wire needs to be replaced in time. The device has low cost and low dosage of electrophoresis buffer, and is suitable for units with insufficient scientific research and teaching funds and large dosage.

( Liu Baoquan, Chun Chunxiang, etc. )