Metaphor Agarose - how is it?

[Paul N Hengen]

>>I've been thinking of trying out Metaphor Agarose from FMC. It's supposedly
>>good for separating out low molecular weight DNA fragments. Does anyone 
>>have any experience with it? How does it compare with NuSieve?
>
>I tried it and found it useless. The band were not well defined and the 
>resolution poor.  I ended up using polyacrylamide which was much much better.

I tried both of these and found bands were very diffuse, so that low quantities
of DNA are difficult to see. I would rather use a highly purified agarose like
FMC SeaKem Gold and pour it at 1.0 to 1.5 %. Any DNA fragment that runs too
fast on this can be seen on a polyacrylamide gel with better resolution.

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* Paul N. Hengen, Ph.D.                           /--------------------------/*
* National Cancer Institute                       |Internet: pnh at ncifcrf.gov |*
* Laboratory of Mathematical Biology              |   Phone: (301) 846-5581  |*
* Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center|     FAX: (301) 846-5598  |*
* Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 USA              /--------------------------/*
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