Diffusion Blotting for Rapid Production of Multiple Identical Imprints from Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis on a Solid Support

A very simple and fast method for diffusion blotting of proteins from precast SDS-PAGE gels on a solid plastic support was developed. Diffusion blotting for 3 min gave a quantitative transfer of 10% compared with 1-h electroblotting. For each subsequent blot from the same gel a doubling of transfer time is necessary to obtain the same amount of protein onto each blot. The relative transfer of low and high molecular weight components was similar in diffusion and electroblotting. However, both methods do give a higher total transfer of the low molecular weight proteins compared with the large proteins. The greatest advantage of diffusion blotting is that several blots can be made from each lane, thus enabling testing of multiple antisera on virtually identical blots. The gel remains on the plastic support, which prevents it from stretching or shrinking. This ensures identical blots and facilitates more reliable molecular weight determination. Furthermore, the proteins remaining in the gel can be stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue or other methods for exact and easy comparison with the developed blots. These advantages make diffusion blotting the method of choice when quantitative protein transfer is not required.