Liberty 120, the most popular high speed agarose gel electrophoresis systemUS patent 5,549,806
Liberty 120, the most popular high speed agarose gel electrophoresis system
Agarose has been widely used for agarose gel electrophoresis in DNA RNA analysis procedures because agarose powder can be easily heated to form an agarose gel with sample wells. In DNA agarose electrophoresis method, for example, a microwave of 1 minute heating can melt agarose powder into buffer solution. The agarose gel solution is then cooled down to form an agarose gel.
Problem of old agarose gel electrophoresis:
The agarose gel formation is readily reversible by heat. Over heating will melt the agarose gel. That is the reason why agarose gel electrophoresis in most labs were performed slowly at low voltage.
The breakthrough of high speed agarose gel electrophoresis in 6 minutes:
By designs of reducing heat generation and cooling enhancement, Biokeystone overcomes the problem of agarose gel melting in electrophoresis. High power drives DNA samples run through agarose gel in just 6 minutes without over heating the agarose gel.
1% agarose electrophoresis 250V 6 minutes run in 1x TAE buffer
     |
 | What kind of agarose grade is required for high speed agarose electrophoresis: ---- In agarose electrophoresis, agarose quality is importanted. But our high speed electrophoresis technique was designed for any grade of agarose powder on the market. So far, over 86 different kinds of agarose have been used successfully in our Liberty 120 gel system for rapid electrophoresis. |
| How electrophoretic power is connected: ---- Agarose gel is usually immersed under electrophoresis buffer for electrophoretic connection. In our techniques, The body of agarose gel is immersed in cooling water. Two ends of agarose gel are exposed to buffer reservoirs for electrophoretic connection. This setup reduces temperature of agarose gel during electrophoresis so that high voltage can be used to drive dna samples with rapid electrophoretic migration. |
| What kind of electrophoresis buffer used for high speed agarose electrophoresis: ---- For native agarose electrophoresis, 1X TAE buffer, 1x TBE buffer are the most popular buffers of electrophoresis, For denaturing electrophoresis, MOPS is the choice of buffer in high speed electrophoresis. |
| Why Liberty 120 is the best gel system for high concentration agarose electrophoresis: ---- First, high resolution agarose is the most expensive agarose on the market, usually over $3 for each gram of agarose. Second, high resolution agarose is used at a very high concentration which make an agarose gel extra costly. Third, high concentration agarose makes electrophoretic migration of DNA very slow in conventional electrophoresis, usually over hours. With Liberty 120 gel system, you can save agarose with 3 gel sizes, you can run gels at much higher voltage to generate powerful electrophoretic force. The costs of time and agarose are reduced. |
| Why agarose gel can be immersed in cooling water: ---- Agarose solution in TAE buffer forms a solid agarose gel when cold down in gel tray. By soaking the agarose gel in a cooling water without running electrophoresis, the buffer ions in agarose gel body can release slowly from agarose gel body to cooling water. But, during high voltage agarose electrophoresis, ions are driven by powerful electrophoretic force between two electrodes and move horizontally across agarose gel body which prevents the escape of ions from agarose gel to cooling water. |
| Why high speed agarose gel electrophoresis shows straight banding: ---- The rate of electrophoretic migration of DNA through agarose gel is depend on voltage, agarose concentration, and temperature. In regarding to the issue of "band smiling", the concentration of agarose is uniform and can be removed from our discussion. For factor of temperature, in traditional agarose electrophoresis, agarose gel is immersed under a thin layer of electrophoresis buffer (the layer of buffer has to be thin for reducing electric current). The cooling function of the buffer liquid is very weak. The local temperature across sample lanes of an agarose gel during electrophoresis varies significantly which is the main source of "gel band smiling". In Liberty 120 gel system, agarose gel is immersed under large volume of cooling water, every points of the entire agarose gel remain in uniform temperature during electrophoresis, this is, gel smiling is substantially removed. |