Mechanical stabilization of large pore acrylamide gels by addition of linear polyacrylamide

Abstract Linear polyacrylamide has been used to increase the tensile strength and stability of low percentage acrylamide gels in the range of 2.5 to 6.0 % w/v acrylamide. This added strength allows handling and staining of the gel without the excessive difficulty which is normally incurred when working in this range. Addition of up to 0.6 % w/v of linear polyacrylamide gives no pore size reduction. While addition of linear polyacrylamide to acrylamide gels using bisacrylamide as a crosslinker has a hazy appearance, the use of diallyltartardiamide as a crosslinker gives the desired clarity without loss of large pore size and improves adherence to glass walls. A further advantage of acrylamide gel matrices is that the traditional methods of silver staining can be used for detection of DNA. Thus, adding linear polyacrylamide to an acrylamide gel using diallytartardiamide as a crosslinker allows easy use of low percentage acrylamide gels for separation and detection of DNA fragments in the range of 70 to 2500 base pairs.