TBE vs. TAE

[Tom Duncan]

Przemko Tylzanowski wrote:
> 
> I use TBE (0.5x) for eveything and have no problms. I like the
> resolution and, especially, the speed (TAE heats up easily). However i
> would be interested in the taurine. Could you give me more details
> (conc. and source)?
> 
> Przemko

20X TTE stock:
	216 g TRIS base (we use Sigma's TRIZMA)
	 72 g Taurine (we get from Aldrich Chem. Co., cat# 15,224-2)
	  4 g Na2EDTA*2H2O (disodium EDTA, dihydrate, from Sigma)
	Dissolve above in distilled/deionized water, adjust volume to
	1 liter final (pH will be similar to TBE buffer)

1X TTE = 89 mM TRIS, 29 mM Taurine, 0.54 mM EDTA

TTE buffer was originally used a few years ago as a substitute buffer
for sequencing gels to avoid problems seen with TBE buffer and samples
containing significant concentrations of glycerol (from
glycerol-stabilized Polymerase stock). This is why Amersham markets it
as glycerol tolerant gel buffer.

The resolution and running conditions for DNA on agarose gels are very
similar for 1x TTE versus 1x TBE buffer, although migration of larger
supercoiled plasmids is noticeably different.
-- 
	Thomas M. Duncan
	Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
	SUNY Health Science Center
	750 E Adams St,	Syracuse, NY 13210
	Email:	duncant at vax.cs.hscsyr.edu