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Key Documents

A4718

Sigma-Aldrich

Agarose

for molecular biology

Synonym(s):

3,6-Anhydro-α-L-galacto-β-D-galactan

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About This Item

CAS Number:
EC Number:
MDL number:
UNSPSC Code:
41105317
PubChem Substance ID:
NACRES:
NA.25

biological source

algae (marine)

Quality Level

grade

for molecular biology

form

powder

technique(s)

electrophoresis: suitable

EEO

≤0.05

mp

≤75 °C (3% gel)

transition temp

gel point ≤35 °C (3% gel)

foreign activity

DNase, RNase, NICKase, none detected

storage temp.

room temp

InChI

1S/C24H38O19/c25-1-5-9(27)11(29)12(30)22(38-5)41-17-8-4-36-20(17)15(33)24(40-8)43-18-10(28)6(2-26)39-23(14(18)32)42-16-7-3-35-19(16)13(31)21(34)37-7/h5-34H,1-4H2/t5-,6-,7+,8+,9+,10+,11+,12-,13+,14-,15+,16-,17-,18+,19+,20+,21-,22+,23+,24+/m1/s1

InChI key

MJQHZNBUODTQTK-WKGBVCLCSA-N

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General description

Agarose is a polymer extracted from agar or agar-bearing marine algae. This purified linear galactan hydrocolloid comprises alternating co-polymers D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose units connected by α-(1→3) and β-(1→4) glycosidic bonds. Agarose is highly biocompatible and possesses variable mechanical and diffusion properties. Agarose can be used as a gelling agent, to separate nucleic acids electrophoretically.

Application

Agarose has been used in the preparation of microgel slides employed in lysis and electrophoresis. It has also been used in the gel electrophoresis to separate restriction enzyme digested products in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotyping
Ideal for the separation of small DNA fragments (e.g., PCR products) differing in size by as little as 2% and compares to the resolution of DNA in polyacrylamide gels. High resolution agarose is also ideal for resolving amplification fragment length polymorphisms (AmpFLP), short tandem repeats (STR) and tri- and tetranucleotide repeats.
Low ethidium bromide and SYBR Green background staining

Analysis Note

The following is a list of properties associated with our agaroses:
Sulfate content - used as an indicator of purity, since sulfate is the major ionic group present.
Gel strength - the force that must be applied to a gel to cause it to fracture.
Gel point - the temperature at which an aqueous agarose solution forms a gel as it cools. Agarose solutions exhibit hysteresis in the liquid-to-gel transition - that is, their gel point is not the same as their melting temperature.
Electroendosmosis (EEO) - a movement of liquid through the gel. Anionic groups in an agarose gel are affixed to the matrix and cannot move, but dissociable counter cations can migrate toward the cathode in the matrix, giving rise to EEO. Since electrophoretic movement of biopolymers is usually toward the anode, EEO can disrupt separations because of internal convection.

Storage Class Code

11 - Combustible Solids

WGK

WGK 3

Flash Point(F)

Not applicable

Flash Point(C)

Not applicable

Personal Protective Equipment

dust mask type N95 (US), Eyeshields, Gloves

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Manita Subedi et al.
BMC veterinary research, 14(1), 166-166 (2018-05-24)
The original article [1] contains errors in author panels and their contributions, errors in both the Methodology and the Results sections, and errors with respect to funding sources. The affected sections of the manuscript and their respective regions of corrected
Variations in catechol-O-methyltransferase gene interact with parenting to influence attention in early development
Voelker P, et al.
Neuroscience, 164(1), 121-130 (2009)
Agarose gel electrophoresis for the separation of DNA fragments
Lee PY, et al.
Journal of Visualized Experiments, (62) (2012)
DNA integrity and semen quality in men with low seminal antioxidant levels
Shamsi MB, et al.
Mutation Research. Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 665(1-2), 29-36 (2009)
Surfactant-induced coagulation of agarose from aqueous extract of Gracilaria dura seaweed as an energy-efficient alternative to the conventional freeze--thaw process
Meena R, et al.
Royal Society of Chemistry Advances, 4(53), 28093-28098 (2014)

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