MeOH in Western Buffer

[Matthias Zeiner]

On 10 Mar 1995 18:03:30 GMT, Louis Hom wrote:

>My labmates are invariably astonished to hear that I don't put methanol in
>my Western transfer buffer.  But I never have, and I still get nice transfer.
>Why do people put MeOH in their buffer? Does its absence not affect me because
>of the membrane I use (nitrocellulose)? 

MeOH prevents swelling of the gel during transfer. This is only relevant 
if you run the transfer for longer periods, eg overnight. 

Matthias Zeiner