Gels keep cracking

[kresten at my-dejanews.com]

I've had the same type of cracking problems (16% gels) and tried to fix them
by using 10% V/V HAc, 10% V/V Glycerol without any success.

--
Kresten Lindorff Larsen
Dept. Yeast Genetics
Carlsberg Laboratory
Denmark


In article <365FD473.D2E862ED at liv.ac.uk>,
  "Richard V. Giles" <giles at liv.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>
> "S. McKay" wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >         I've been having some problems drying mini-gels.  I'm using 14%
> > SDS-PAG to separate my protein (which is 35S-labelled).  Following this I
> > have been fixing the gels in 7% Acetic Acid for 20', rinsing in dH2O and
> > then an amplification step using 0.5M Salicylic Acid for 20'.  The gels are
> > then dried onto Whatmans 3mm Chromatography Paper under vaccum and heat on
> > a BioRad Gel Slab Dryer for 1.5hrs.  Less time than this and the centre of
> > the gels do not dry.  Unfortunately, I've been experiencing severe cracking
> > problems with the gels which is obviously unacceptable.
> >
> >         I am aware that the salicylic acid will remove much of the moisture
> > from the gel but 1.5hrs seems a long time.
> >
> >         I've also tried  using the 0.5M Salicylic Acid combined with 2%
> > glycerol but this makes no difference and if anything the cracking is
> > worse.
> >
> >         This has become a very frustrating problem and any suggestions you
> > could make would be very much appreciated.
> >
> > S.McKay
>
> I'd up the glycerol content to 10%.
>
> In the past when we've dried SDS PA gels the final step was 5% acetic
> acid, 10% glycerol. No cracks when dried as you have described. Don't
> know how the 0.5M salicylic acid would interact with this though...
>
> --
> Richard V. Giles Ph.D.
> School of Biological Sciences
> University of Liverpool
> Tel +44/151 794 4389
> Fax +44/151 794 4349
> http://www.liv.ac.uk/~giles/
>



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